Jurassic Park

Prolific author Michael Crichton died this week. He practically invented the techno-thriller genre — scientifically complex stories tempered with strongly human characters (his last novel will be posthumously published next year). Our sister site SCI FI Wire has a good summary of his best and worst works here , and it reminded us of the prominent role that technology played in Crichton's stories. From Jurassic Park to Disclosure to The Andromeda Strain , Crichton always laced his stories with tech that was beyond the cutting edge . After the Continue jump, join us for a look at five amazing technologies from Crichton's stories that ... Read Full Story

SCIENCE FICTION fantasy films often present us with resurrected creatures from the past - such as in Jurassic Park and the movies it inspired like the Carnosaur series and the dreadful Sabretooth. Most recently, the prehistoric epic 10,000BC brought to life the mammoths, sabretooth tigers and giant predatory birds that once walked the Earth. Documentaries, too, such as Walking with Dinosaurs and its follow-ups (Walking with Beasts, Cavemen and Monsters) have all reconstructed long-gone species. But a lot of it is educated guesswork. We don't know what colour dinosaurs were, for instance. Or how exactly the sabretooth used its huge fangs. Theories and knowledge ... Read Full Story

Jurassic Park is a 1993 science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. The film centers on the fictional island of Isla Nublar, where scientists have created an amusement park of cloned dinosaurs. John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) invites a group of scientists, played by Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern, to visit the park. Sabotage sets the dinosaurs on the loose, and technicians and visitors attempt to escape the island. Development of the film began before the novel was even published, and Crichton was hired to contribute to a script that cut much ... Read Full Story

This is one of those stories that just pops up every once in awhile because the prospect of continuing the Jurassic Park franchise is just that damn intriguing. We even posted about it a few months ago when Hasbro announced the revival of the toyline. Now AICN is reporting that Jurassic Park III director Joe Johnston, who’s next project is Marvel’s Captain America film, chatted with them about the film while on the set of the Wolfman ( his most recent film). “There is a great story for the fourth one that I would be interested in getting involved with and it’s nothing like ... Read Full Story

I'M a great fan of dinosaur movies - or indeed most films featuring prehistoric or mythical creatures - so it's disheartening to hear that the Jurassic Park franchise may now be extinct. A fourth film in the series has been in development for ages, and was to have been directed by Joe Johnston - who helmed Jurassic Park 3 - from a screenplay by William Monahan and John Sayles. But now producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy, speaking at the press junket for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, say it's unlikely the movie will go ahead. When asked if there was any movement ... Read Full Story