Why Dinosaurs?

It's been a while since my last blog update here (for good reasons I can't reveal yet) but I have some time and some thoughts I figured would share along with some pictures I took.

So today I went to the Natural History Museum in London to see the world's most complete Stegosaurus skeleton. It was awesome, and definitely worth seeing if you're about in London. It has 90% of its skeleton intact with only 10% (mostly plates and tail) made of reconstructed material. It's a beautiful specimen so catch it before it lumbers off to another museum! However it got me asking this question again: Why are people so obsessed with dinosaurs? And after today I think I may have another piece to the puzzle...

Now I've asked myself this question before, back in June during my History of Dinosaur Movies series for Jurassic June I used a quote by the late Michael Crichton who also questioned people's obsession with dinosaurs. The quote was...

"All the time I was working on the book (Jurassic Park) at least, I was really trying to understand what the fascination was, and I went through all the usual theories. You know, they're interesting because they're so huge. They're interesting because they have such complicated names. They're interesting because they're gigantic, menacing things like parents which are very large from the stand point of a child, that there is some kind of Freudian association. For the child to learn the name, these complicated names could be a way to control something, or they're fascinating because they're extinct? I ran through everything I could think of and I decided that nobody knows." 

         

 - Michael Crichton

I think it is safe to say that everyone agrees that Dinosaurs had many behavioural characteristics to the animals that are alive today, including us. A Giraffe is the mammalian version of a sauropod, for one example, they're a lot bigger than us, graceful, and can be very dangerous. In fact Giraffes probably act very similar to how Brachiosaurus may have acted. So why don't we look at Giraffes in the same awe-stuck manner as when we walk into a museum and see this?...

Or do we? I visited a zoo not long back and took a ride in a jeep inside an enclosure. We got up close and personal with Ostriches, Rhinos, Giraffes and many other species; we even fed the Giraffes by hand. I felt a wave of spectacle, it was a fantastic moment feeding this large, mysterious animal; but all the time I was thinking to myself: they're like furry, hairy dinosaurs. With that conclusion I was brought back to the question, why are people (like myself) so obsessed with Dinosaurs?

After going back and forth on this subject for a while I stood in front of the Stegosaurus today and thought of a simple saying which added new light to my question. 

We always want what we can't have. 

Something tells me Crichton may have arrived at a similar theory because he wrote a book...well you know the rest.

Any thoughts?

Life Finds A Way

- Jack

Twitter: @Jack_Ewins

Jackanthonyewins.co.uk

P.s Oh yeah almost forgot to mention... NEW EPISODE COMING SOON!

Jurassic World Trailer drops. Surprise podcast drops!

Today will be marked down in Jurassic Park history as when all fans were taken by surprise as Universal dropped the much anticipated "Jurassic World" trailer...2 days early!

Originally planned to be released this Thursday/Friday (depending on your location), the trailer was released today due to unforeseen circumstances and boy are the fans loving it!

So much so that the guys at Jurassic Cast podcast went against all protocol and recorded a special episode on their reaction to the trailer. 

For those who were expecting a full episode with another special Jurassic Park guest do not fear, as the new episode will be released within the next 2 weeks. The usual "schedule matching" is currently being worked out.

So listen to what Sam & Jack have to say below, Tim unfortunately missed the recording due to it being 2am in Australia but called in just after to tell us his mind had literally been blown. Im sure we will get back into it next episode!

By the way, the clock is still ticking on the official Jurassic World site...

Episode 12: Rampage Edition is now LIVE!!!!

So after a slight delay, due to all of us here at Jurassic Cast having jam packed schedules with other projects...Episode 12 is now available to download from Itunes, Stitcher, Here or the player on the side bar.

The Episode is a special celebratory Anniversary episode featuring special guests Colton James from The Lost World, Prehistoric Park & Walking With Dinosaurs Nigel Marven, Jurassic Collect & the Crew of JP: The Incident.

If you have already listened to the episode you would have heard that Sam did a little investigating and concluded a long running rumour, below is the email that was read out from Matt Winston as part of the investigation.

-Sam

@bamsam_md 

New episode coming soon!

Rest In Peace Richard Attenborough

1923 - 2014

Jurassic Cast Podcast: Rampage Edition! - Coming September!

As stated in the last episode, to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of our interview with the wonderful Colin Trevorrow, the interview that sky rocketed us to the most awesome source of EVERYTHING Jurassic Park! We will be changing up a few things for our September episode, "stirring the pot" if you will.

We will be interviewing another cast member plus a non-JP special guest. We also will be speaking to those who are contributing to the JP fan community plus MUCH MORE!

I don't want to say to much about who or what you will be hearing, as i don't want to give anything away! Remember, we like it #spoilerfree


-BamSam

Listener Collection - July 2014

I’ve been a fan and collector of Jurassic Park items ever since the first movie came out, and a dinosaur enthusiast even earlier than that. The first JP items I ever owned were the collector’s cups from McDonald’s restaurant, and the Kenner stegosaurus toy. I don’t think it was necessarily my intention at first to become a JP collector, but it was so unusual and redeeming to me that dinosaurs -- which were always sort of a niche interest of mine that not a lot of other people I ran into at that time shared – were suddenly such a popular and widespread fad with Jurassic Park. Every JP toy, knickknack, and item that came out was so cool and new and unique, that I had to have it. And so my collection grew.

I was 13 at the time Jurassic Park was released, and grown out of the “playing with toys” phase, so I was able to keep a lot of my action figures and items unopened in their original packaging. As my collection grew, it became a conscious effort to keep my things sealed and in as nice of a condition as I could. Most of the items in my collection are still sealed up, although I do have a number of loose figures I’ve picked up second-hand through the years as well as a few of my own from my early days of collecting.

I obtain most of my items when they are originally released, which is usually alongside the release of movies. In the years between movies I am active in flea markets, yard sales, and online auctions to fill holes in my collection or find cool new JP items. It’s not about mindlessly throwing a bunch of money at anything with the JP logo though; that is not very fun and I don’t have the funds for that. For me, the real fun in collecting is finding a unique, unusual, or just cool-looking item that appeals to me personally as a Jurassic Park fan. Even after 20-plus years, I am still discovering new Jurassic Park items that I didn’t know existed, and still on the lookout for elusive pieces I need. Some of my favorite Jurassic Park items that I have include the comic books by Topps and IDW, and the statues by Cinemacast and Sideshow.

Besides JP merchandise, I am also interested in the movies themselves and the people who make them. I have a collection of autographed photos from various cast and crew members of the Jurassic Park films, a few signed items, and a couple of small props including a Mr DNA animation cell from the first film and Kelly’s shirt from The Lost World. This is an area of my collection I wish to expand upon in the future. Looking forward, the upcoming release of Jurassic World is an exciting time as both a fan and collector of the Jurassic Park series. I can’t wait to see what Colin Trevorrow and his crew have come up with to dazzle us on the movie screen, and what kinds of amazing figures, toys and other items are produced to tie in with it.

I’ve also made a video of my Jurassic Park collection room which shows everything a little better, which can be seen here:

Interested parties can also follow me on Twitter at @jurassiraptor or visit my JP tumblr blog at www.jurassiraptor.com.

Thanks!

Justin “jurassiraptor”

Episode 11 with Thomas F. Duffy aka Dr Robert Burke is now available!

That's Right! The latest episode is now available with the truly amazing Thomas F. Duffy who played Dr Robert Burke in The Lost World!

You can listen to the episode on Itunes, Sticher & BeyondPod by searching "Jurassic Cast". Listen on this site by clicking the player on the top right of the page, or Click "podcast" on the pages tab at the top of the page.

Please remember to follow us on Twitter @jurassiccast and Facebook by clicking Here and letting us know what you think!

Enjoy!

-BamSam

Coming up on Episode 10 of Jurassic Cast Podcast....

We are over the moon to announce that the latest member of the Jurassic Park franchise to join us on the podcast is none other than Thomas F. Duffy, who played Dr. Robert Burke.

Thomas spoke to us about what it was like to be part of one of the most anticipated sequels of all time, working with Steven Spielberg and getting eaten by a T-Rex!

Aswell as The Lost World, Thomas Duffy can be seen in movies such as Independence Day, The Abyss & Super 8.

The new episode will be available from July 22nd, so please remember to subscribe to us on either Itunes or Stitcher by simply searching "Jurassic Cast". Alternatively you can listen to all the episodes on this website by clicking the embedded player on the right or clicking the Podcast button on the menu.

You can also subscribe to us on Twitter here 

Like our Facebook page here

Subscribe to our YouTube channel here

Martin Ferrero joins us on Episode 10...

We were absolutely thrilled to have Martin Ferrero on the latest episode! Martin played the bloodsucking Lawyer Donald Gennaro who met his brutal end in Jurassic Park in the jaws of the T-Rex.

Along with some truly amazing stories, Martin also wanted to point out a book that he recommended every one should give a read. The book is called "Why I Jump..." by Naoki Higashida and is about a 13 year olds struggle with Autism. It is a fantastic, eye opening book that we could not recommend you read more. Click on the link below to learn more

http://www.amazon.com/The-Reason-Jump-Thirteen-Year-Old-Autism/dp/0812994868

Martin Ferrero joins us on the new episode!

In celebration of the 21st Anniversary of Jurassic Park's release, we are absolutely thrilled to announce that the special guest on our June episode will be none other than Martin Ferrero, who played Donald Gennero.

Martin was an absolute joy to talk to and we could have easily talked for hours, he was full of great stories and praise for those he worked with.

The new episode will be release on June 16th, we cant wait for you all to hear it!

-BamSam

Jurassic June: The History Of Dinosaur Movies!

This June everyone is chatting dinosaurs! It's Jurassic Park's 21st anniversary and Jurassic world is all over the news. To celebrate all things prehistoric Jack is making a series of videos all about the history of dinosaur movies. You can check out the series so far via the link below...

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM1CUnmT_bTNv_0KMxdRP784n3lvhjaDz

...we hope you enjoy! And remember to use the hashtag #JurassicJune in your social media this month if you wanna be involved or find out what other people are up to.

Link: JurassicJune.com

Monthly Listeners Collection - May 2014

My name is Nate Farro, I live in Nashville, TN and I am a Jurassic Park Junkie! It all started in 1993 when I was 7 years old and Jurassic Park opened in theaters! My dad took me and my little brother to see the film and immediately after the opening raptor scene we were terrified and told Dad we had leave - so we went across the hall to see Beethoven's 2nd (which was not nearly as exciting).

Even though we couldn't sit through the whole movie at first we became obsessed with the JP toys and had all the dinos, cars, play sets, pyjamas etc! Fast forward 20+ years I went back to my parents house and ask Dad if I could get all my Jurassic Park stuff from the attic and he said, "Oh, I sold all that stuff at a garage sale years ago." Everything was gone!!!!! Everything except the Bull T-Rex from The Lost World which I still have to this day. Wah wahhhh.

Since that sad sad day it has been my goal to find all the stuff I once had as a young J fan! Once I started, the collection has grown and grown over the years and it has become much more than just finding the old toys I once had.

I regularly hunt for Jp toys at thrift stores, flea markets, and online. A couple months ago I came across what can only be known henceforth as THE MOTHERLOAD. I found an ad on craigslist of a guy who said he had "Lots of Jurassic Park stuff." After meeting up with him and haggling back and forth on price, I purchased five 30 gallon storage containers full of Jurassic Park goodness! It is up to this point in my Jurassic toy hunting career the single greatest score I have ever had and quadrupled my collection - hence THE MOTHERLOAD! The next weekend I sold a handful of things I did not want online from the third movie and made all of my money back!

I have so much stuff and the unfortunate thing is I do not have much room to display it - for now a majority of it sits in my attic. I have a lot of awesome stuff but my 3 favourites are the hand drawn animation cel, the original movie poster from 1993 and the mint in the box original T-Rex from the first film.

I guess I better start saving up my money now for what I hope will be an awesome Jurassic World toy line! :)

- Nate Farro

Founder of #JurassicJune :)
twitter - @natefarro // website - natefarro.com

Trevor Morgan joins us for Episode 9 this May...

We are joined by Jurassic Park 3's Trevor Morgan on Episode 9 of Jurassic Cast Podcast.

The Episode will be released on May 16th 2014

Also in this video Jack explains why we're "spoiler free"
concerning Jurassic World at jpforever.com

Episode 8 unleashed!

Episode 8 is available for download from iTunes, Stitcher or from the side bar to the right. We had the upmost honour of having Bruce A. Young join us for this choc-a-block episode which also includes the information you need to win our competition!

Enjoy folks!

Life Finds A Way

- Jack x

Jurassic Cast T-shirts!

Thanks to the wonderful people at Yipptee we now have Jurassic Cast T-shirts for sale! Don't they look fantastic! Well if you fancy one of these bad boys click the MERCH link above!

- BamSam & Jack x

Special guest revealed for episode 8!

Episode 8 competition!

With Episode 8 just around the corner we'd like to let you guys know about a competition that will feature in Episode 8. "What could I win?" We hear you ask well...

Spielberg's Production T-shirt phone case courteous of Bad Lizards!

A boxed original Velociraptor action figure!

An original JP Stegosaurus kit!

...and some original JP movie cards!

Put your tongues away! Find out how you can win all of this booty in Jurassic Cast Episode 8! To find out when the episode drops follow us on Twitter @Jurassiccast or simply keep checking this page ; )

Good luck!

- Jack & Bam

Episode 7 with Matt Winston out now!

New Episode of Jurassic Cast Podcast drops February 28th!

Listeners Collection: January - Corey Baker

Hey JPforever! My name is Cory Baker I live in Western Australia and instantly became a fan of Jurassic Cast when I stumbled across it a few months ago on iTunes, so I Thought I'd have a go at this months listeners collection. So here's the story of how my collection came to be!

I was born in 92 so I was sadly too young to remember when the first movie came out but by the time 'The Lost World' arrived in cinemas the shops were covered with jurassic park merchandise, I can clearly remember walking into the lost world section of toys and being absolutely amazed. So much green packaging and so many amazing dinosaur toys, I just had to have them. I remember getting the flapping Pteranodon for my birthday, but my favourite toy I got as a child was the reprint TLW velociraptor with the capture gear.

About a year later I clearly remember going to a garage sale and finding a first jurassic park screaming Dilophosaur. It was a great find. But made me realise that I have missed out on the first films toyline for being so young, which I was very upset about. I also got a lot of the jp3 toyline when I was 10. 

One thing in particular I want to talk about is this Lost World poster I had as a child. It's still on my wall and it's one of my most prized possessions. Even though it's a bit warn and torn.

Anyway I eventually got the internet and it wasn't long till I found Jurassic Park toys on eBay. So I set off to collect the toys I've always dreamt of having. I collected a whole bunch of jp toys but I eventually had every toy from the first movie series 1 toyline. But I didn't have much money when I was 13 and collecting these toys. so some of them are in terrible condition but I didn't care, At least I had them.

Well I do care now as a 21 year old and I have started buying JPtoys again now that I have a job and I have started replacing them with some still packaged or just really good condition ones. I also really like Papo dinosaur models as they are strongly inspired by the Jurassic park films so I collected them as well.

So there you have it. A little story about my collection. I would love to tell my whole Jurassic Park story but that's for another day. P.s it's a unique one. 

Thanks - Cory Baker

Episode 6 with special guest Phil Tippett OUT NOW!

So here at JP Forever we're very excited to release our sixth episode with a very special guest: the special effects titan Phil Tippett!

He talks about his experiences working on the original film and touches upon his involvement with Jurassic World! Here is a snippet of our interview with Tippett...

Episode 6 is available to listen live from the right hand sidebar, or you can download it (along with all the previous episodes) from iTunes & Stitcher. Click the "Jurassic Cast" tab above.

We hope you enjoy the new JC.

Life Finds A Way

Jack x

New look to website.

I figured our site needed a fresh look for the new year, so here it is. I went for a very cartoony look, so ya'll know we don't take ourselves too seriously. (Not that you thought that anyway.)

- Jack x

Phil Tippett joins us for the January episode!

Use this poster to spread the word!