Jurassic Park movie questions and answers

John Hammond: I don't blame people for their mistakes, but I do ask that they pay for them.

Mistakes

In the t-rex scene where it is attacking the kids in the car, in the shot where it stands on top of the car, the metal begins to buckle in the next shot inside the car. When it starts to sink, the metal isn't buckled and you can see the car sinking into the mud pit. See more...

Trivia

At the beginning of the movie, the helicopter flies into a valley from the sea. This valley is actually on the north shore of Maui, close to Kahakuloa. When it lands at the bottom of the waterfall, the site is actually on Kauai, where most of the movie was filmed. See more...

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Movie Mistakes blog

Jurassic Park (1993) - 20 questions

Directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, Richard Attenborough, Sam Neill, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight (add more)

Genres: Action, Adventure, Sci-fi, Thriller

The "questions" section is for any random questions that occurred to you while watching this film, or anything you didn't entirely understand, and which Google or the IMDb can't help with. Submit them as a question, and hopefully someone will answer (the bold comments in brackets) - check back regularly. If the answer is wrong, or missing information, please use the "clarify answer" option. Don't feel limited - want to know what music played in a certain scene? Whether this was the first film to use a certain effect? Here's the place to ask!

Easter Eggs

Questions

Are the people present at the digging site when they're discussing new approaches to analyzing skeletons supposed to be paleontologists in dr. Grant's group? If so, why would they laugh at his musings of "how dinos learned how to fly"? And why would he have to explain it to them? Seemed to me like he is explaining very basic stuff to the people that would already know this (and of course, to the movie audience). [They are not paleontologists, just people interested in dinosaurs. It is common for museums and other scientific organizations to offer the general public an opportunity to participate in a real paleontology dig. For a fee, they become an exhibition team member for a period of time, learn about dinosaurs, help excavate fossils, and so on. This is likely how Dr. Grant (or his institution) supplements his research funding.]

Answered by raywest

Is Mr. Arnolds the man that was played by Samuel Jackson? If so, why was he at the power shed? [Yes he's the same character. He went to turn the power back on, but when he didn't return and the power didn't come back on, the others decided to go.]

In the beginning of the movie we have a Dinosaur. However, later the guys find the rock/sap with the mosquito in it and Hammond say they used the DNA from the mosquito to help with the creation of the dinosaurs. Then how did they have the dinosaur at the beginning of the movie? [The mining for amber to find dinosaur DNA was an ongoing project. They never created dinosaurs out of the ambered mosquito found in the movie... the dinosaurs in the movie were from other pieces of amber dug up sometime before the movie takes place.]

Answered by JC Fernandez

I am sure I've heard some of the T-Rex sound effects before, particularly the growling noise it makes when Tim shuts the door of the Ford Explorer in the first big T-Rex scene. I thought perhaps they were stock sound effects but was told they were all created for the movie. Can anyone tell me where else they might have been used? I get the feeling some might have been used in one of the Doom games. [The sound effects were created specifically for the movie and Spielberg has a very strict policy against letting his material be used for stock (because of an incident in which footage from his movie "Duel" was recycled into the Incredible Hulk TV show). Therefore, you could not have heard this particular growl anywhere else. Perhaps it was just very similar.]

What happens to the dinosaurs of this island (Isla Nublar) after the characters fly to safety? Are they killed? The hurricane that is mentioned in the sequel affects only the buildings of the other island (Isla Sorna), not the dinosaurs on this island. [In the book, the island is saturation bombed, killing all the dinosaurs. There's no mention of what happens in the notably different film version of the story.]

Answered by Tailkinker

Is it true that a T-Rex's vision is based on movement? [According to noted paleontologist Jack Horner, who acted as a consultant on this film, it is not known whether or not a T-Rex's vision was based on movement. However, because some reptiles do have this trait, Horner said it's possible that a T-Rex could have it as well, and he didn't object to it being in the movie.]

Answered by raywest

How did Ellie get hurt running from the raptor in the powerhouse? [Ellie is not injured. When she's running out of the powerhouse, the cord to the portable lamp she was carrying gets wrapped around her leg and the lamp is now dragging behind her. It looks as though she's limping.]

Answered by raywest

What exactly are the types of frogs that can spontaneously change gender in a single-sex environment, that Grant was referring to? [To be exact. Grant is reffering to "amphibian DNA" most commonly found in species of West African frogs. It is the amphibian DNA that allows the frog to change gender. It is not specifically related to frogs only.]

When Ellie and Muldoon are going out to turn the power on, Muldoon sees that the raptors have escaped and says something to the effect of, "even Nedry knew better than to mess with the raptor venom." As a computer person, how would Nedry know much about dinos and as the electric wiring was obviously broken around the raptor cage Nedry must have turned off the raptor fences as well? [The point is that no, Nedry does not know much about dinosaurs (except what he would have picked up from working in the park). Muldoon thinks that even a non-too-intelligent layman like Nedry would have enough common sense to stay away fom the raptors. He was proven wrong since Nedry turned off ALL the fences, including the raptor cage.]

Answered by Twotall

Someone said Tim and Lex were altered so that they played equal roles. So Lex got age and computer skills and kept sport interest, and Tim got belief in qualities he did not possess. Plus, in the second movie, the boy kid was ruled out, even though he saved them many times in the book. Where is the equality? [In the book, Tim had the dinosaur knowledge and the computer skills, whereas Lex had nothing. Since she was the rather useless scardey-cat in the movie, they gave her the computer skills so she could help out at the end. In the second movie, both kids were ruled out; they essentially just had cameos.]

Why did Hammond scream Grant's name over the phone when Grant starts shooting. [Because Hammond asked Grant if the kids were OK, then the Raptors broke in and Grant started shouting, so Hammond didn't have a clue what was going on and was a bit on edge and shouted "Grant!"]

What exactly is the lysine thing Muldoon mentions? I didn't really understand it. And if it is the only way to save the others then why does Hammond say it's completely out of the question? [The so-called scientists genetically engineered the dinosaurs to not be able to produce the amino acid lysine so that they would need lysine supplements in their diet or they would die. Muldoon wants to stop giving them the supplement. Hammond doesn't want to stop giving it because the dinosaurs will die - all his money down the drain. Unfortunately, they goofed up because there were edible plants on the island that contain lysine (probably planted by the same idiot who planted the poisonous ferns), so the herbivores eat those, the carnivores eat the herbivores, and VOILA! all the dinosaurs have plenty of lysine without the supplement.]

Answered by Myridon

Why was Nedry paid to smuggle the dinosaur embryos off of the island? [So the company that paid him would have all these dinosaur embryos without having to dig to find them and could then create dinosaurs themselves.]

Right after the man talking with the lawyer in the beginning says "Grant's like me; he's a digger" and the close up of the mosquito in amber, he says something in another language. Sounds like "caleendo" or something. Does anybody know what he is saying here? [He says in spanish "Qué lindo eres" (you are really beautiful).]

When the tour group is heading back to base camp, Richard Attenborough is complaining about how the tour was unsuccessful. Samuel L. Jackson says very seriously, "It could have been worse - a lot worse." Is he referring to the fact that the dinosaurs could have escaped, or that they knew the security was faulty? If this was a real possibility, why would they have sent the tour group out, especially the kids? [I don't think they're thinking along that sort of lines - I think it's more that this is the first test of the tour systems with a 'real' tour group and they're concerned about technical difficulties. Hammond is complaining because it didn't all go perfectly - Arnold is merely reminding him that they had a lot of technical systems that worked fine. If they'd had problems as well, the tour could have been appalling. At this point, they wouldn't even be considering the possibility of a dinosaur breakout or security problem - they're worried about the technical aspects of the tour working properly.]

Answered by Tailkinker

In the book Tim is older than Lex and is into computers. In the movie, Lex is older than Tim and is into computers. Why was this change made? [It was thought that in the book Tim got too much of the focus being the dinosaur and computer expert. So, they reversed the ages and gave Lex the computer skills and Tim kept his dinosaur knowledge so that they each played more equal parts in the movie.]

Answered by wolfchild

When the jeeps are outside the t-rex paddock there is a sign on the concrete wall with the word NO written on it, the rest of the sign is too small to read. What does it say? [On the DVD it says, "Feeding, Flash Photography, Yelling", from top to bottom.]

I thought that there were only 2 raptors, and one got trapped in the freezer. How were there then two attacking the characters near the entry of the visitor center at the end of the movie? [There were three raptors. Remember Muldoon saying "When she came in she took over and killed all but two of the others," in reference to the largest one.]

At one point at the start, where you only see the gate keeper above his arms, his body slides up the wall, still parallel to the ground. How did this happen if it was just a dinosaur? And when I watched it, it looked as if his body just was sucked into the cage, not dragged, because it happened so suddenly as if a fan had been turned on. I'm not debating it's a raptor, just trying to understand what actually happens there. [He falls and is dragged abruptly into the cage - the most likely explanation is that the velociraptor has grabbed his leg to pull him in. As it's a very sudden movement, it does look rather as if he's been sucked in, however, velociraptors are pretty much pure muscle, which would give the female in the cage the strength to pull him in that suddenly. Anyway, now that he's closer to her, she can now bite his torso, which would give her enough leverage to lift him off the ground in the manner that we see. As to why she'd do that rather than just turn her slicing claws on him, well, who can predict the actions of a really annoyed raptor.]

Answered by Tailkinker

What does Hammond yell over the phone after Sam Neill starts shooting when the raptor breaks through the window? [He screams "Grant", Sam Neill's character's last name.]

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Jurassic Park (1993) - 20 questions