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”