(Editor’s note: Columns often contain opinions; and those belong to the author)
Welcome to Jurassic Park!
The Miller will welcome you to “Jurassic Park” when the original 1993 film will be shown Sunday, Sept. 14 at 2 p.m.
Uttered by Jurassic Park founder John Hammond (played by Richard Attenborough), that iconic greeting has been parodied with such lines as “Welcome to Geriatric Park” or “Welcome to Diabetic Park” in cartoons, memes and films through the decades since. The film, which had many early advances in CGI animation and effects, has become a T. rex-sized part of our pop culture in other ways.
Being a large part of pop culture can be indicated by the parodies that exist of an original creation. The disaster on the dinosaur island itself has become a morality play-level meme about not being willing to pay IT people enough (The IT guy, Nedry (Wayne Knight), who programs and designs the systems to keep the park running appears to be underpaid. His thinking that he is underpaid creates an impetus for his engaging in a certain illegal activity that threatens the park. Like with his character Newman in “Seinfeld,” his character in this film is the sniveling, bungling and annoying type one loves to hate).
Additional parodies have been created of the film. In one parody short film, one of the J.P. Jeeps is being chased by something – presumably the big T. rex so famous in the film. But it turns out in the parody that it is Pee Wee Herman chasing the Jeep riders on his bike from “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.” And Pee Wee’s high-pitched laugh becomes as scary as the Joker’s in this context.
Next, when Hulu brought back the 1990s’ cartoon “Animaniacs,” they did a “Jurassic Park” parody for the commercial where the toons themselves being reanimated parodies the dinosaurs being brought to life from DNA. One line that refers to this is from the animated male scientist (a caricature of the original, Grant, who was played by Sam Neill): ”This species of cartoon has been extinct since 1998.”
That was funny enough. But one part I laughed out loud at was when an animated Spielberg, parodying Jurassic Park founder Hammond, Richard Attenborough’s character, says, “Then, there’s Pinky and the Brain.”
Just like the enthusiasm about the T-rex in the original, the female scientist, Ellie (originally played by Laura Dern in the film) exclaims, “You said you’re bringing back ‘Pinky and the Brain’?” She had been glancing at animation cells the way the original character glanced at plant samples and had her head physically turned to see what the other scientist was seeing (in this case, the Animaniacs instead of dinosaurs).
The male scientist grabs the animated Spielberg and then says, “Say it again.”
Animated Spielberg smiles widely and repeats, “We’re bringing back Pinky and the Brain.”
The dinosaur island’s investors’ lawyer Gennaro (Martin Ferrero) only sees dollar signs when he sees the dinosaurs in the original film. His greed and the result thereof become a kind of mini-morality-play in one sub-plot. And his parody version, a Hulu executive, is mocked the way “Family Guy” used to mock Fox, when he says, “We are going to make a fortune on this show.” He is a caricature of Gennaro but in Hulu green and wearing a Hulu button.
Eventually, toward the end of the parody commercial. the director character says, “Welcome to Animaniacs!”, repeating the oft-parodied line.
Also, who can forget Weird Al’s parody of “MacArthur Park”? I have not heard “MacArthur Park” played much on the radio (even as an oldies and 1980s fan… I refuse to call 80s music oldies.). But I was recently reminded of the aforementioned Miss Haversham-esque lost-love ballad in a hilarious scene in “Beetlegeuse 2.” If Tim Burton did not make enough of a mockery of that song in his scene, Weird Al certainly did in his parody song with archaeological-level digs at our favorite dinosaur film:
Humor aside, some serious topics and themes were elaborated on by the film (and original novel).
Scientists manipulating biology with disastrous ends has been a theme going back to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and before. (Spoiler alerts for those few who have never seen it.) And this film explores that in spades when all of the dinosaur cloning scientists’ fail-safes for keeping the dinosaurs enclosed in special environments in the theme park, in fact, massively fail. Also, they even discover a supposed fail-safe preventing reproduction of the dinosaurs has failed. As the chaos theorist Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum) says, “Nature finds a way.”
The film has advancements in other ways. It features women in prominent roles, including as scientists and even a young lady, Lex (Ariana Richards), interested in and doing well with computer science (in fact, helping the main characters with her skills).
Also, it may have even pointed toward neurodivergence several decades before it was discussed so much. It may have done so with the dinosaur-obsessed Tim (Joseph Mazzello). Then again, many kids in general are obsessed with dinosaurs, which may have led to the overall success of the franchise.
But has the dinosaur trend waned? Well, over decades later, Jurassic Park sequels are still being made, and cosplayers are dressing as the characters at various cons. And separate touring shows of audio-animatronic dinosaurs still do well. Arcades such as Radioactive Pinball Arcade in Aiken and other places have Jurassic Park pinball machines. However, I read a recent article that the original “Jurassic Park” ride at Universal Studios theme park may be removed as well as the “E.T.” ride. Some dinosaur theming was removed from “Animal Kingdom” at Walt Disney World some years back. But they still keep making “Jurassic Park” sequels to the present day. And I recently read an article which stated that some kids are still into dinosaurs and that the ones who are end up statistically being more intelligent. In fact, one can still find plenty of dinosaur books for children at chain bookstores, independents and online.
Also, dinosaur toys or Jurassic Park-related toys are abundant – as many as the Spaceballs toys the character Yogurt mentioned in “Spaceballs: The Movie.” “Jurassic Park” video games are still being made as they were when the film first came out in the ’90s. So, the film and its concepts may never go truly extinct.
Just in case, movie-goers may want to keep the dinosaur trend going by doing their own costume or parody costume related to “Jurassic Park” and wear it to the event on the 14th. The first 20 to arrive in movie-related costume will be given free popcorn.
And as you go into the grand entrance of the Miller, may you be reminded of going through the gate of a certain theme park, hear that stirring, trumpeting score of John Williams, and hear that distinctly British voice in your head with enthusiasm, “Welcome to Jurassic Park!”
South Carolina author, former teacher and veteran journalist Ron Baxley, Jr. is a social media manager working on a Southern television series. His latest novel, “O.Z. Diggs the Fifth Estate” is available in regional comics shops, bookstores, and gift shops. Reach him at ronbaxleyjr.com.
