How Jurassic World Justified It's Scientifically Inaccurate Dinosaurs

Thursday, May 20, 2021

The Jurassic Park franchise has never been known for scientifically accurate dinosaurs. But rather than correct this, the series gave an explanation.

When the original Jurassic Park released in 1993, the idea of what dinosaurs looked like was vastly different from what scientists believe they look like now. In the past, scientists thought these creatures were far more reptilian in appearance and only loosely shared traits similar to birds. Now, it appears dinosaurs are far more bird-like than previously speculated, even having feathers. Rather than correct this idea in later releases like Jurassic World, the franchise leaned into the scientific inaccuracies with a clever explanation instead.

Since the beginning, Dr. Henry Wu has been hard at work creating new dinosaurs based on the genetic secrets he and others uncovered back in the early years of Jurassic Park. After creating creatures like the T-Rex and Velociraptor, Wu continued his genetic research following the accident at the park. However, Wu has since become more obsessed with his work, even playing in the realm of mad science to create entirely new creatures like the Indominus Rex.

While working at Jurassic World, the Indomius Rex became the pinnacle of Wu's work, giving the creature traits of dinosaurs like the T-Rex and Velociraptor along with camouflage abilities from a cuttlefish. Upon its escape, Jurassic World CEO Simon Masrani learned of Dr. Wu's project, after he cited his desire to make it cooler and scarier rather than accurate. During Wu's justification in creating the Indominus Rex, he let slip that the dinosaurs at the park have never looked accurate because the scientists filled the genetic gaps with other creatures.

This directly ties back to the original inspiration for the park, and its use of frog DNA to fill in the gene sequence gaps. Wu then stated, "...if their genetic code was pure, many of them would look quite different." To Wu, this was never about creating accurate dinosaurs, but a chance to push his creative boundaries with genetic power. His justification for his actions and the scientific inaccuracies touch on the biggest lesson that the franchise has to teach.

Explaining that these dinosaurs were designed for visitor appeal rather than educational or scientific purposes highlights man's desire for power without any understanding behind it. Even Dr. Wu, with his vast intelligence, believes he is doing something that no other person can. While it isn't morally right, he chooses to continue his work because if he doesn't innovate, someone else will. Making the dinosaurs inaccurate on purpose shows that the park creators only care about how far they can go in creating a new creature.

By Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the hope that a T-Rex or Velociraptor will have scientifically accurate feathers has become a thing of the past. Though science has detailed that dinosaurs looked very different from how society portrays them, the Jurassic Park franchise found the best solution to acknowledge reality and fantasy. Thankfully, by not retconning the designs, the franchise used the science to further explain why humanity shouldn't meddle in powers they don't understand.

Source: www.cbr.com/