I wasn’t planning on this being my first official blog post, but fate unfortunately had other plans I guess. Sam Neill, our beloved dinosaur man, has left this earth. It just felt wrong to write about anything else this month.
I am not normal when it comes to Jurassic Park. You know the saying, "the thing you hyper fixate on at the age of 13 remains with you forever,” well I think you can take a wild guess on what that is for me. After seeing Jurassic World in theaters at that age, I became obsessed with the whole franchise. I have probably watched Jurassic Park over 100 times and to this day it never gets old. The moment where the T-Rex makes her grand debut still gives me chills.
Dr. Alan Grant was the most relatable character in the entire franchise. He didn’t train Velociraptors or create lab made dinosaurs. He was just a simple man married to his passion for paleontology. Even while surviving being eaten by carnivores, Grant can’t help but examine the way these creatures move, hunt, and feed in child-like wonder. Honestly that would be many of us dinosaur lovers if we were put in his place. Grant was also a quick thinker, using his knowledge about dinosaurs to get out of situations that seemed to have no solutions. If it wasn’t for him, Tim would still be stuck in that tree after all haha!!
There’s a scene I love in the first film where Grant shows his distaste for a computer mapping out the entire Velociraptor skeleton they discovered. While everyone was in awe of how much easier it will be to excavate, Grant says this new technology is going to put them all out of work in the future. Fast forward to Jurassic World Dominion, if you pay close attention to Grant’s excavation tent you will see there is no modern technology to be found. It reminds me a lot of myself when it comes to generative AI. It’s unfortunately here to stay but you will never see me touch ChatGPT for as long as I live.
This character is the heart and soul of the Jurassic Park franchise. Rest easy Sam Neill. You did a wonderful job bringing this man to life. Thank you for being one of my childhood heroes.
-MJ
