January 24, 2011
Dinos Coming to Big and Small Screens
A screenshot from the forthcoming Jurassic Park game by Telltale Games. Image from Gameinformer.
What is going on with the Jurassic Park franchise? For the past decade rumors have circulated about a fourth installment of the dinosaurs-gone-wild series, and for every report that a sequel is in the works there is another denying such plans. The latest episode involved a daily shooting schedule at Universal Studios that said Jurassic Park 4 was filming on several stages, though studio spokespeople have said this was not true.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding the feature films, the Jurassic Park stories are continuing in other venues. Last year saw the debut of the poorly-executed Jurassic Park: Redemption comic series, and Telltale Games is working on an adventure game that will return players to the doomed theme park. There’s already a fair amount of buzz around the game, especially since it won’t be another dinosaur shoot-em-up like so many others.
Famed director and producer Steven Spielberg is still involved in bringing dinosaurs to the screen, too. He, among others, is an executive producer for the forthcoming TV series Terra Nova, a show about a group of humans hoping to save humanity from ecological disaster by settling 85 million years in the past. The show will most definitely feature dinosaurs, although some of the prehistoric cast will be entirely new. On a recent publicity tour, series producer Brannon Braga said, “we have dinosaurs we know existed from the fossil record but you get to make up your own dinosaurs as well.”
These won’t be the only dinosaurs to stomp across the screen in the near future. The Discovery Channel series Reign of the Dinosaurs is set to debut this year, and in 2012 Walking With Dinosaurs 3D will take audiences back to the Mesozoic. Jurassic Park 4 or no, dinosaur fans certainly have a lot to look forward to in the next year.
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Is this announcement from FremantleMedia related to the Walking with Dinosaurs 3D project (http://tinyurl.com/4rz776b)
Additionally, IDW Comics has launched a follow-up Jurassic Park comic titled “Devils in the Desert” with writing and art by John Byrne. It seems a bit better than all JP comics up to this point.(http://tinyurl.com/48qoe4x)
Save The Dinos…
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Brannon Braga is attached to Terra Nova… oh boy.
I can make a bold, and very accurate prediction. The show is going to SUCK!
My reason is EVERY episode that Braga ever did on Star Trek that touched on the concept of evolution. He just plain simple doesn’t get it. The Next Gen episode “Genesis” and Voyagers “Thershold” are all I really need to cite. Just look up sfdebris review of Thershold to see what I’m talking about…
This quote by him about Dinosaurs we don’t know is only hinting at the awful he is capable of unleashing.
Who knows. Maybe I’m wrong, and he took some courses or something. However, given this is Hollywood we’re talking about I wouldn’t hold my breath…
Well said, Traumador.
I had forgotten that Braga was responsible for “Threshold” (the ONE episode of “Star Trek” that officially “never happened” – that’s a huge deal considering how huge this franchise is), and the “we have dinosaurs we know existed from the fossil record but you get to make up your own dinosaurs as well” quote makes me want to cry at night.
If you readers haven’t guessed yet, we are paleoartists. You have *no idea* how hard it has been getting non-dinosaur-geeks to understand that Velociraptors did not look like they do in “Jurassic Park”. And “J.P.” is about fifteen years old.