What Dinosaurs Would You Like to See in Jurassic Park 4?
The skull of Torvosaurus.
When I want to watch a movie but am not sure what I’m in the mood for, I usually pop in one of the Jurassic Park DVDs. I am not going to argue that they are classic cinema, but it is pretty fun to see dinosaurs “brought back to life” through puppetry and CGI, even if the series became increasingly silly. Tonight I put on the second film, The Lost World, but as I did so I wondered about the fate of the franchise. Would there be a Jurassic Park IV, and if so, what dinosaurs would be in it?
There is a sort of unspoken expectation that each subsequent Jurassic Park film will feature new dinosaurs. Never mind that the introduction of new species has not always made sense; we want more dinosaurs! As such I have made a short list of five dinosaurs I would love to see should the series be brought back from extinction:
This is probably the coolest dinosaur that most people have not heard of. Standing about 20 feet tall with eight-foot-long arms tipped in enormous three-foot-long claws, Therizinosaurus was one of the most bizarre dinosaurs to have ever lived. It had a small head, long neck, and huge gut for digesting plants, yet it walked on its hind legs and was more closely related to “raptors” than any other herbivorous dinosaurs. It may have even been covered in filament-like protofeathers. If the creators of JP IV really want to wow their audience, there is no better choice than Therizinosaurus.
2) Torvosaurus
The Jurassic Park franchise already has its share of large predators (like Tyrannosaurus and Spinosaurus), but what’s one more? Millions of years before the first tyrannosaurs evolved, Torvosaurus was one of the largest predators of the Late Jurassic (about 161 to 145 million years ago). It had a long jaw full of huge teeth and robust forearms tipped in large claws. It can’t compete with Tyrannosaurus in terms of popularity, but I bet it would be just as terrifying to whatever humans are pitted against the dinosaurs in the next installment.
3) Nigersaurus
The only sauropod dinosaurs that have appeared in the Jurassic Park series so far are Brachiosaurus and Mamenchisaurus (Thanks, zeta), so why not add another, stranger one into the mix? Nigersaurus lived during the middle of the Cretaceous, about 119 to 99 million years ago, and it was unlike the classic sauropods the public is familiar with. It was relatively small, had a short neck, and had a head shaped like a vaccuum cleaner. It would definitely be something audiences have never seen before on screen.
4) The “Last Chance Ceratopsian”
Triceratops made appearances in the first two Jurassic Park films but really only had the equivalent of a walk-on. Not only do I think that old “three-horned face” should get more screen time, but that a new horned dinosaur should be introduced. This past summer I saw the skull of what is informally being called the “Last Chance Ceratopsian,” a horned dinosaur with a big nose, two small brow horns, and a big frill that sports to large spikes. Word on the street is that it will even have a pretty cool sounding name, and what better way to make the public aware of it than to give it at least a cameo in the next movie?
5) Raptorex
During the first two Jurassic Park films the hapless humans had to worry about the huge Tyrannosaurus and the smaller Velociraptor. For the next installment I think the filmmakers should split the difference and introduce Raptorex, a relative of Tyrannosaurus that was about the size of the “raptors” in the films. Maybe it would have more trouble opening doors with its puny arms, but I think the “tiny tyrant” would be a fine choice for the next film’s main antagonist.
Obviously my list is biased towards recently-discovered and bizarre dinosaurs, and I’m sure you have ideas of your own. In the poll below vote for which of the above dinosaurs you would most like to see in Jurassic Park IV, or feel free to introduce your own picks in the comments.
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The franchise might do better by moving away from dinosaurs and towards extinct mammals. There are plenty out there that would wow audiences as much as dinosaurs – Indricotheres, Deinotherium, saber-tooth cats, etc. It would be fresh and wouldn’t simply repeat the prior three movies – although I guess it wouldn’t be “jurassic” anymore.
Comment by Dom — October 9, 2009 @ 9:53 am
Brachiosaurus wasn’t the only sauropod in the JP movies, Mamenchisaurus was in The Lost World. I would like to see Baryoynx for no other reason than its my favorite dinosaur. A more accurate looking Dilophosaurus would be cool too.
Comment by zeta_gelgoog — October 9, 2009 @ 10:18 am
therizinosaurus would be cool, but what about cryptovolans? all they have to do is make it several times larger than it really was and they’ll have awesome flying raptors. and then hopefully, giant flying raptors will actually be discovered.
Comment by ian — October 9, 2009 @ 12:29 pm
Ian: Cryptovolans = Microraptor gui. And it’s very likely that M. gui = M. zhaoianus, just FYI.
I don’t want any dinosaurs in Jurassic Park that aren’t known from reasonably complete remains. That would chuck Therizinosaurus and Torvosaurus. The “Last Chance Ceratopsian” will be published in the giant ceratopsian volume due out in November. While it would be cool, there will be some new chasmosaurines published soon that I heard about at SVP that blow Diablo–er, the LCC out of the water in terms of sheer awesomeness.
I think it’s high-time the maniraptors were adequately sampled. It’s not all just Deinonychus. I’d also like to see some non-ceratopsid ceratopsians, like Psittacosaurus and Bagaceratops. JP doesn’t have to be quite so cutting-edge: there are plenty of well-known dinosaurs that weren’t in the newspaper yesterday.
Comment by Zach Miller — October 9, 2009 @ 2:51 pm
I put other, because i agree with Dom: they should bring some extinct mammals into he fold. Like maybe a “gang war” between the raptors and a pride of saber-tooths? There are loads of mammals out there that they can use. But it’s the dinosaurs that draw. So for my official answer in “other”, I’ll put Allosaurus, Carnotaurus, and Pachyrhinocaurus.
Zach Miller- Psittacosaurus was feature on the ride at Universal Studios Hollywood. But they could perhaps add a quirky presence to the movie.
Comment by Doug — October 9, 2009 @ 4:53 pm
Carcharodontosaurus, no doubt about it.
Comment by Tor Bertin — October 9, 2009 @ 4:56 pm
I picked “other” but I disagree with the idea of adding extinct mammals into the mix. Remember the animals in the Park didn’t just *poof* out of nowhere, they were researched and created specifically by the park genetic engineers using only Mezozoic-era amber and fossils. Throwing Cenozoic animals into the mix makes a huge plot hole, and quite frankly seems a bit gimmicky (remember “Dino-Riders: Ice Age”?). It just wouldn’t make sense at this point in the film series.
As for dinos, I would love to see a larger and more accurate dilophosaurus. Leptoceratops, for some reason, I’ve always wanted to see in a JP movie. And of course, the “chameleon” carnotaurus from the Lost World novel, which have not yet appeared in any JP film incarnation, would be cool to see if their camo ability can be pulled off convincingly yet realistically. I want to see feathery dinosaur: it may not go over to just fluff out the already-established raptors (though they did add quills in JP3), but a feathery troodon or something would be neat to see.
But I’d really like to see more of the dinosaurs that have only had “cameos” or whose presence has only been hinted at thus far: Mamenchisaurus, ceratosaurus and ankylosaurus have only appeared on screen for a few seconds each. Let’s explore some of these amazing animals more, show them in action. Metriacanthosaurus, sigisaurus, baryonyx and others have appeared in the films in name only, written on props; or otherwise confirmed to be on the island but not yet seen.
I’m not so crazy about the episodic, “new monster on the block” premise. They tried that with JP3, trying to out “T-rex” the T-rex with spinosaurus, with mixed results. So I think trying to introduce a giganatosaurus, acrocanthosaurus, cacharadontosaurus, etc. with the “hey, look at this giant predator that’s actually more badass than the rest but we somehow didn’t notice until now” idea in mind would just be a re-hash.
Comment by jurassiraptor — October 9, 2009 @ 7:45 pm
I love all 3 JP films but one dinosaur they need to put in and never did is the king of the Jurassic. Allosaurus. Every time a new Jurassic park came out I hoped for an Allosaurus and never got it.(There is one in the new Land of The Lost however). Also some marine reptiles. One more thing, all 3 movies have animals from both the Jurassic and the Cretaceous periods. Maby they should put some dinosaurs from the Triassic?
Comment by Prehistoric man — October 9, 2009 @ 8:01 pm
How about some synapsids! I want to see Dimetrodon! Or how about an Archaeopteryx? I’d suggest Spinosaurus, but someone mentioned that they were already in the series. I do not remember that at all! (I’ve seen and own them all, but I guess I don’t watch the sequels as much as I have the original.) Although, I thought that, at the end of the 3rd, they hinted at the Pterodactyl?
Comment by ~L.K. — October 9, 2009 @ 9:00 pm
Zach – Shhhhhhh
How about Cryolophosaurus – he is odd looking and “exotic.”
Comment by ReBecca — October 10, 2009 @ 2:06 am
I’ve always thought the most fearful dinosaurs would be the ones near human size, but so much more well equipped than we for quickly dispatching prey – I think that’s the whole reason the raptors were a wonderful success in catching the public’s imagination. A human or horse sized tyrannosaur, with that solid build of its larger cousin, would horrify me.
Bring on Raptorex!
Comment by nanoraptor — October 10, 2009 @ 5:17 am
fearful? ugh. I meant fearsome.
Comment by nanoraptor — October 10, 2009 @ 5:17 am
I might be wrong, but I don’t believe that Giganotosaurus has been in any of the movies yet. Size wise it’s a step down from the Spinosaurus but above the Tyannosaurus Rex. That would be a good one to introduce in the next film.
Comment by Matthew — October 10, 2009 @ 10:37 pm
I think that’s what made the compies a little dangerous, to me. They took down grown men, but they’re so tiny. (Although I was never afraid of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, just fascinated. Then I stared to learn about real dinosaurs, and loved them just as much.)
Comment by ~L.K. — October 10, 2009 @ 10:51 pm
Carcharodon Megalodon. I’d love to see the whale hunting shark worked into the plot. Not very likely, however, as you would have to be quite nuts to want to resurrect one of those.
Comment by ron white — October 10, 2009 @ 11:57 pm
Not a dinosaur, but I’d love to see a terrestrial foraging hatzegopteryx. Also, a bigger role for an ankylosaurid would be appreciated.
Comment by Anomalocaris — October 12, 2009 @ 5:26 am
How about the original cast? The film was already successful with the taxa of the first two.
However, if one wants new taxa, then Therizinosaurus is what I chose.
In fact, since they updated the Dromaeosaurids, then why not the Tyrannosaurus rex? I’m tired of seeing a 1990 rex. I think Tyrannosaurus rex needs a behavioral makeover to not only make it more accurate but to add a fresh, and new air to the franchise, and allow them to keep the same cast.
Comment by Raptor Lewis — October 13, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
In fact, I’d like to see what would really happen between a T. rex (Adult) and Spinosauridae, if that were to happen again. However, if Spinosaurus is to be used again, then it MUST be a fishing theropod!!!!! Trust me, I know what I’m talking about.
Comment by Raptor Lewis — October 13, 2009 @ 4:27 pm
Lewis, as long as Horner is the “consultant” (if you can call it that) on the JP films, T.rex will always be an overweight, lumbering scavenger, doomed forever to be killed by whatever new theropod on the block they throw in there.
I forgot pterosaurs. I would like to see some accurate pterosaurs portrayed. My personal favorite is Nyctosaurus, but some rhamphorhynchoids would be nice, too.
Comment by Zach Miller — October 14, 2009 @ 7:21 pm
“… as long as Horner is the “consultant” (if you can call it that) on the JP films, T.rex will always be an overweight, lumbering scavenger, doomed forever to be killed by whatever new theropod on the block they throw in there.”
Unfortunately yeah. I heard him say in a recent Nat Geo program, “I thought T. rex had gotten enough press so i was going to get rid of him.” Not replaced. Get rid off.
Comment by Doug — October 18, 2009 @ 1:09 pm
I woted Therizinosaurs but really anything feathered would make my dreams come true. Spielberg has intentionally ignored the concept of feathered theropods throughout the first 3 films (the Velociraptor mohawks in JP3 are a poor excuse). Still, I could forgive him if he would throw us just one example of a realistically integumented but still fierce looking coelurosaur.
Comment by Ceph — October 22, 2009 @ 9:12 am
wait .. Tyrannosaurs are coelurosaurs and their movie versions were in accordance with fossilized skin impressions. A fuzzy compsognathid would also be letting him off too easy.
Make that a “fierce looking maniraptor” instead.
Comment by Ceph — October 22, 2009 @ 9:51 am
I think Dracorex would be cool. Also I just read about a prehistoric toad the size of a beach ball called Beelzebufo. That would be cool to see. I would love to see Majungasaurus as well.
Comment by Prehistoric man — October 25, 2009 @ 8:24 pm
spiny’s head was not made for biting force, he had a “fishing face”. The basic physics of biting power are not found in the shape of spiny’s head compared to t-rex’s pipe-wrench shaped head which would have broken spiny’s neck as sure as a pitbull crushes a german shepherd. I know it’s fantasy but let’s keep it real.
Comment by Texrex — October 26, 2009 @ 9:45 pm
Main Threat should be Giganotosaurus, small threat should be Dilophosaurus, winged threat should be Rhamphorhynchus, the marine reptile should be Ichthyosaurus, and Deinosuchus if they could fit it into the movie. Spino and rex should have another battle and both loose like in the beginning of the film so Giganotosaurus can be the big bad dino.
Comment by Gaara of the Desert — October 31, 2009 @ 12:59 am
More Spinosaurus! Really, can anyone get enough of Spinosaurus?!
Comment by Spinosaurus.com — November 10, 2009 @ 7:15 pm
I am all for Spinosaurus coming back. But as a fish eater or hunting small to medium prey. Mabey they should put other dinosurs from that family like Baryonyx, Suchomimus, or Irritator.
Comment by Prehistoric man — November 12, 2009 @ 4:18 pm