Transcript: Jurassic Park (1993)

70mm
26 min readJan 3, 2022

Transcript of 70mm’s Jurassic Park (1993) Episode.

SLIM Hey, it’s your old pal Slim and this is 70mm, a podcast for film lovers. Every Monday I sit down to talk about recently watched movies with dear friend and artist Danny Haas.

DANNY Muldoon’s drip in this film. The man never skips a leg day. I cannot stop looking at his thighs.

SLIM And our spiritual advisor, Protolexus.

PROTO He’s a sexual creature through and through. I mean the whole lip licking thing that he has with his tongue. Yeah, it’s sexual signal that he’s giving off, not just, you know, to women. But to everyone.

SLIM Later in our 100th episode, we talked about the movie that changed everything. Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, we settled the age old question, what is it about Jeff Goldblum that turns us on? Enjoy!

[70mm theme song ramps up, plays alone, fades out]

SLIM Brand new — new, new, new — music for the podcast by Cinematrik. We came to a handshake agreement with HBO, you know? To cease using their classic music on the podcast and I think we stepped it up big time. Danny, what do you think?

DANNY Really did. It’s an amazing piece. It’s like when Spielberg asked John Williams to write for Jurassic Park. This is what we did.

SLIM This is our Jurassic Park moment, Proto.

PROTO It really is. Yeah, this music, transcendent, if I had to choose a single word. But I don’t. I could use many words. Other words that I would say, perhaps… synthetic.

SLIM Oh!

PROTO Would you say that when when there’s synth in the song?

SLIM Proto about to get a job at Pitchfork right now.

PROTO Pitchfork, call me, email me. Maybe Twitter DM, that’s probably how you can get ahold of me best.

SLIM But we’re very thankful to hear that from Cinematrik and our legal battles behind us. We can put the past behind us now. HBO, we’re back in our good graces. Danny alluded to some business in the pre-show.

DANNY So much business.

SLIM Before we get to Jurassic Park — the big Jurassic Park episode, episode 100. You can use the chapters to skip ahead if you want to just skip to the big show. We are adding a new permanent tier to the Patreon. First ever new permanent tier since we started it. It’s the new Interns tier. A few months ago, we sent out a survey to our supporters to see if we did add a new tier, what would you be interested in? And the most highly rated ones were “I don’t care, I’ll sign up no matter what.” Which is amazing, obviously. Thank you. And then there was a quarterly watch-along episode idea.

DANNY Excuse me.

SLIM The three of us sit down to watch a movie and record it. And the other one was yearly letters from Proto. And we quickly knew that that was not scalable. If we did that. [Slim laughs] And then there was a channel just for interns to talk about the aforementioned ideas and access our secret planning calendar. So as of this episode, there’s a new $10 tier which $12 folks already have access to. So don’t worry. That includes our very first watch-along episode and that episode is Star Wars The Phantom Menace.

PROTO Star Wars 1.

SLIM Two and a half hours.

DANNY We did it.

SLIM I think everyone probably saw his log it on Letterboxd a while ago and we said nothing. But we literally just sat at our computers and watched Phantom Menace and talk to each other while we watch it. It was amazing, fun time.

DANNY What a night. [Slim laughs]

SLIM And wouldn’t it be cool if there was a video attached? Where you could just watch the movie in a 4:3 format with our audio? Like you’re watching an old tape? Wouldn’t that be cool?

DANNY That would be rad.

PROTO That would be cool.

SLIM There’s also the very first audio dispatches from Protolexus episode. I will say, you’re not ready for this. The creativity coming from Proto right now is off the charts. 40 minutes of audio just from Protolexus. What would you even expect to come from Proto?

PROTO What can I say for 40 minutes?

DANNY I don’t know but you did it and it was amazing.

SLIM I will say that the audio quality and the production value of this episode, which will be quarterly, so the the watch along episodes are quarterly, this is quarterly, these episodes from Proto, the audio quality production of this episode is better than most podcasts I listen to on a daily basis.

DANNY Unreal.

PROTO Wow, thank you.

SLIM Automatically get access to the Interns channel. So we can talk about the episodes that are available in that tier. We don’t want to kind of just rub it in everyone’s faces in the other channels. Want to make anyone you know, doesn’t want to sign up feel like they have to sign up. So and we have gotten questions about the $12 tier, is it coming back, where you choose the episode for a supporter only episode and if and when it does come back, it probably won’t come back until the middle of 2022. Just because we still have to finish the pics that people sign up for before the year anniversary comes around. Alright, so that’s the end of the business. Thank you everyone for your support. We have a brand new permanent tier, no limit, $10 tier, you get discount if you sign up for the year. I think it’s 100 bucks for the year, where you get quarterly watch along episodes. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a video that you could watch with the movie attached to the audio? Wouldn’t that be great?

PROTO It’d be so great.

SLIM Audio dispatches from Protolexus, which you’re not ready for, wear headphones when you listen to those episodes, and special channel just for Interns to chat about those benefits. We have to keep going. We have so much show to get to. It’s the end of the year. We felt like we should do our top three movies of the year our top three faves, the three hosts before we get to Jurassic Park. What were our three picks from the year that we love the most? Danny, are you ready to reveal your picks for 2021?

DANNY Yeah, I went through into the top 10 like I did for the I think I actually forgot to do it last year but my Top ’21, top three, these are movies not necessarily that came out in 2021. But I watched for the first time in 2021. So top three. Number three, My Dinner With Andre.

SLIM Whoa!

PROTO Wow! Okay.

DANNY I think about this movie quite often. And it’s really stuck with me. I really dug this movie picked up the Criterion of it. And it’s just something that was very special. I liked it a lot. Number two, Autumn Sonata.

SLIM Excuse me.

DANNY Ingmar Bergman. This movie was incredible. And I really, really loved the performances on my Ingmar journey for the year. And number one, I think you guys could have guessed, I picked Tick, Tick… Boom! A movie that felt right to pick for my favorite move for the year. So that is my top three. My top 10 list is private. I’ll make public later on. But there you go.

SLIM My Dinner With Andre, I was not expecting that one at all.

DANNY Me either. When I looked through my list, I was shocked I even picked it. But yeah. [Slim laughs]

PROTO Shocked himself.

DANNY Shocked myself but it really stuck with me.

SLIM Proto, how did your list shake out?

PROTO Um, well, I just shook it out in the last five minutes. [Danny laughs] Because I forgot. But I knew two of them. I was just kind of figuring out the third. I’ll go with my number three. I’m not really sure there’s so many movies that I want to say of course, but I want to say The Innocents, I want to say Lawrence of Arabia, but I’m going to go with top three is a Matos, which I watched back in June, which is like a Lord of the Flies story. Man, just thinking back that was that was one of the best times this year just sitting alone in the dark watching a movie. So good. I love that. A movie that I watched this year and that came out this year. I mean, I hate to do it.

DANNY Do it.

PROTO But Matrix Resurrections.

SLIM Ohhhh.

PROTO I mean you heard me last week. I love this movie. I’ve been thinking about it. Every time I think about I have a smile on my face. I know it’s been kind of divisive with people but for me it works. I love it. And I’m just, staying honest about it.

SLIM I felt like we were vindicated last week when our feelings were revealed. Total vindication.

PROTO Complete, there’s nothing left to be done. And my number one movie which is going to be permanently on my top three faves. The Long Goodbye.

SLIM Ohhhhh.

PROTO It really is like all time favorite movie for me now. It just had a new release. I plan on getting it and watching it again and loving it even more.

DANNY Amazing. Love it.

SLIM Remember the blu-ray fiasco behind that movie?

PROTO Not good, not a good moment.

SLIM Proto has a drawer full of Blu-ray Region B The Long Goodbye DVDs that he’s hiding from his family. [Slim laughs]

PROTO I was trying to sell them on Facebook Marketplace, like do a drive by.

SLIM One quick thing about the patron tier, which is in the post that isn’t live yet that explains the launch. So like if you previously sign up for an annual plan, and are like, worried about how that will shake out, if you sign up for another annual plan, Patreon only charges you like a prorated price. So it takes into account what you’ve already paid and will give you a discount if there is one for like the amount of time that you paid. So just a heads up on that. And also, if you ever run into a situation where you think you pay more than you can just DM us and we’ll hook you up. My top three, let’s see.

DANNY Let’s hear this.

SLIM Number three, how fitting. Ninja III.

DANNY My gosh. [Slim laughs] My gosh.

SLIM What a moment, when I was sitting down to watch that movie. This is what movies are made for. You know? The experience, just the fun, the laughs, the insanity, the silliness of that movie, right? I mean, can we get a 4k release Criterion of Ninja III? Please?

PROTO Is anyone working on this? [Slim laughs]

SLIM Remnant says number two New York Ninja. I have not purchased the New York Ninja Vinegar Syndrome disc. I was a little bit nervous, mainly because I think it was like a $39 price tag on it. You know? It was pretty steep but I’ll get it at some point in the future. Number two, which we did an episode on just for our supporters, Harakiri.

DANNY Oh baby.

SLIM What up picture. Watched it twice this year. Both picks from Toring and god, that was a great episode too. I think we all pretty much love that. Was that a 15 banger?

DANNY Had to have been.

SLIM Right? Proto, did you give that five?

PROTO Definitely.

SLIM Oh my god, what a movie. What a movie. So by all means, check that out. That’s probably still streaming on the Criterion. And number one movie of the year that I saw for the first time, I also did an episode on it. That’s Roma.

DANNY Oh man.

SLIM Alfonso. My sweet prince.

PROTO The waterworks.

SLIM The beach scene alone. If you don’t just openly crumble at that beach scene, I need you checked out. Okay?

PROTO Yeah. Are you a replicant? [Slim laughs]

SLIM So those are our top three for the year. Pretty good picks if I say so myself.

DANNY None of us had overlapping picks either.

PROTO Slim, don’t kid yourself. There’s someone at home saying “those are their favorite movies of the year?” [Danny & Slim laugh]

SLIM “They call themselves movie lovers?” Let’s see. We have some new friends on Patreon that joined this week. So we want to give them a shout out you can join it patreon.com/70mm, get access to uncut episodes. Join the VHS Village Discord. Discounts on Danny’s beautiful prints and merch. I saw some new merch added this week.

DANNY No comment.

SLIM Better check it out of VHSvillage.com And you get access to the episodes in the 70mm vault. Mark, Lisa, Alex, Callie, Victor, Thad, Jimmy and Kyle all joined this week. So thank you very much for your support. Most recent episode that hit the vault was, let’s see, that was Prisoner of Azkaban I think, still our most recent one. And if you are joining the Interns tier, you get to listen to the Phantom Menace watch-along. Gosh, remember 3CPO walking around like a horror show?

DANNY What a moment.

PROTO Your Vietnam. [Slim laughs]

SLIM It was! I was trying to scan through that episode and listen to just me being so horrified by how he walked. Oh my god, frightening. And every week we give giveaway a free year Letterboxd Pro, get rid of ads. You can see all your year end stats, your life and film stats really when you become a supporter of Letterboxd and you can see where all your movies are streaming. So if you add something to your watchlist, you can find out where it’s readily available. And that’s Allison on IG mconats, she shared The Matrix 4 on IG, so she also is a Matrix 4 supporter.

PROTO In the family.

DANNY I think we should talk about Don’t Look Up.

SLIM Don’t Look Up. You want to talk about Don’t Look Up?

PROTO Slim, what didn’t you like about Don’t Look Up?

SLIM Don’t Look Up. This is this is Oscar bait. There’s a lot of whispers that this is gonna be the movie of the year.

DANNY What?

PROTO Really?

SLIM Yeah, a lot of people think it’s like the new Dr. Strangelove. You know, climate change. We all know climate change is real. Okay, Adam McKay? Just because we didn’t like the movie doesn’t mean we don’t think climate change is real. I thought the tone was kind of bleh, like I’m into dark humor and satire, like I just talked about that Second Civil War Joe Dante movie that was on HBO. I thought that was a lot better than this. It just felt like the tone was way off. I feel like if someone else directed it, it would have worked better.

PROTO Yeah, I felt like it was a comedy but also too serious about everything at the same time. I actually would have liked it, we were talking a little bit in Discord. I would have liked if, at the end, if the scientists were wrong, and then like everything actually worked, and like the CEO tech guy actually saved the planet. And then like, those guys looked like morons, like that would have just flipped the script so much. And would have like, thrown people off. That actually would have been funny. But he just like was so sincere with everything that it’s yeah, I said it felt very much like a dad writing jokes for a movie about something that, you know, he thinks he only cares about. But I still, I enjoyed it. I had a good time, but I kind of expected this I saw Vice and Vice is very similar, so I guess I was prepared for this movie.

SLIM What’s your rating for this?

PROTO Three stars.

SLIM Three stars. That’s a death sentence from Proto. Total death sentence on Letterboxd.

DANNY I’m never watching this film. [Slim laughs]

SLIM The cast is legit. I mean, I don’t know what Netflix paid for this movie, but it had to have been pretty substantial.

DANNY I mean, Netflix said it’s their number one Netflix movie in the Netflix vault.

SLIM Are you kidding me?

PROTO Cate Blanchett.

*SLIM Are you kidding me? Yeah, Cate Blanchett is great in it. The special effects were pretty good. But how about the scenes that were happening during the end credits? I was like some Interstellar stuff. Looked great.

DANNY Did you just say Interstellar?

SLIM Yeah.

DANNY Stop. Just stop.

PROTO I mean the Earth being destroyed is great. It’s a great theme, you know, asteroids, comets, that stuff looked great. I love that. You know?

SLIM Ian in chat, former producer of the show says, quote, “I didn’t even finish.”

DANNY Not his first time.

PROTO Alright, there’s nothing else to talk about. Let’s get on to the show.

[Jurassic Park theme song fades in]

SLIM We have to finally get to Jurassic Park. 100th episode. We felt like this was a perfect pick for the 100th episode. Before we venture on into a bold new future for this podcast. Proto, are you ready to get us prepared for this discussion?

PROTO Paleo botanist Ellie Sattler and paleontologist Alan Grant are invited by John Hammond, a wealthy white guy, to visit a mysterious theme park on an island near Costa Rica. What they find when they arrive is the impossible, living, breathing dinosaurs. Taking blood preserved within mosquitoes, Hammond scientists have been able to extract din DNA and unextinct a smorgasbord of killer carnivores and heard them behind electrical fences. But when something goes wrong, namely allowing children into an incomplete dinosaur cloning facility, the ethics of cloning, genetic engineering and the ability to escape, being eaten alive, come into question. Hold onto your butts, because life is about to find a way, all this and more in Jurassic Park.

SLIM We are going to try a little bit of a different format for this roundtable discussion. And each host has to kind of set the stage for the discussion, each host is going to come up with three main points that they took down from this film and then we’ll have some honorable mentions before we give our final Letterboxd review rating. We usually start the segment with kind of asking if anyone has like a deeper history and I don’t think I or maybe Proto does.

DANNY What!

SLIM What!

DANNY You have no history with this film?!

SLIM I can’t think of like, you know, like a ton of like fond memories sitting back and watching this. I have memories of seeing it when I was a kid and you know, knowing of Jurassic Park, et cetera, et cetera. But I don’t have any kind of like solidified memories. Am I wrong? Do you not have something similar, Danny?

DANNY I have vivid memories of seeing a trailer for this somewhere, either on a VHS or, you know, one of the channels we were watching as a kid. And then seeing times in a newspaper and begging the hell out of my father to take me to see this film. Now at the time, 93, I was 11 so too young to see this film. But my dad gave me because I was relentless about begging to see this film. And he took me to see, me and him Jurassic Park. I remember sitting in the theater, these disgusting red canvas seats. And I probably needed to, I had to piss like 20 times in this film. I was terrified out of my mind. Like absolutely scared. My father even asked if we wanted to leave. And I said no, as I was, like, crying through tears, like no, I don’t want to leave. This was a terrifying movie for me as a kid.

SLIM Spielberg does it again.

DANNY So I have very, I have a very vivid memory of saying this in the theaters.

SLIM Can you imagine the negative iTunes reviews we’ll get from me saying I don’t have any vivid memories of Jurassic Park growing up? It’s over for us.

DANNY For you, maybe.

SLIM It’s over for me.

DANNY I’m gonna get other podcast offers.

PROTO Not to bring up Lost World right off the bat… [Slim & Danny laugh]

DANNY Let’s do it. Let’s pivot.

PROTO But I had a tie dye Lost World t-shirt. It was just like tie dye and then just the logo on the shirt. I wore that shirt until it was shredded.

DANNY Oh baby.

PROTO That was like my favorite shirt. I think my mom just one day had to like, take it out of the wash and throw it away. Because I never wanted to get rid of it. That’s my earliest memory of Jurassic Park. I don’t remember the first time I saw it. But I remember that shirt. And I remember seeing it watching it on VHS all the time. I can still see it. The old you know, old TV. You know, “Shooter! Shooter!”

[clip of Jurassic Park plays]

PROTO This is a classic movie where I had I had no idea what was going on in this movie as a kid. And I had revelations at like every stage of my life as I rewatch this I was like, Oh, this guy owns the park! Oh, okay. Like I had no understanding as a kid.

SLIM Also the logos and stuff just popped into my mind. Like, when I was a kid, if you had a Jurassic Park t shirt, like you were instantly cool. It was like before there was like, at least in my opinion, Jurassic Park merch everywhere. Like if you were a kid during our age, if you had like a Return of the Jedi shirt, you kind of like knew like, oh, you’re like me? Yeah. And I think it is like less mainstream. If that makes sense.

DANNY It was signaling to other nerds.

SLIM And now you can just you can get a Jurassic Park t shirt anywhere.

DANNY I mean, how good is that logo? And it’s just classic. I mean, it’s forever. lives on forever how perfect it is.

PROTO Carl Sagan should have put that in the satellite that they shot into space. [Danny laughs]

SLIM I’ll start my list of main points first, if I may.

DANNY Please.

PROTO Please.

SLIM So I got three main items. What is going on with Jeff Goldblum’s tongue in this movie?

DANNY Excuse me? His tongue?

SLIM His tongue.

DANNY Talk to us.

SLIM I’m not sure if anyone else caught it on this viewing. I watched it, anyone doing the drinking game, I watched it in 4K. Looked amazing. But Jeff Goldblum’s tongue is doing like aerobics. Almost in every scene that he’s in. I’m not sure if he was going for something. I don’t know if he does that normally. I know he’s like “Jeff Goldblum” quote. But he was doing some crazy stuff was tongue in this movie. Did you see that, Danny?

DANNY No. But now I’m probably never going to unsee it when I watch this film again. [Slim laughs] I’m going to be staring at his tongue instead of his nipples.

SLIM It’s when he, I think he says words like he’s like “Uh, uh. There it is.” He’s like a frog when he said — thank you. The screen shots are coming in chat. So that was the other Goldblum point that I just wanted to put a bow on. Obviously he’s a star this movie.

DANNY Wait.

SLIM Next to Alan Grant.

DANNY Obviously the star? Okay.

SLIM But when he walks in front of that pile of poop. And it looks like he’s trying to seduce the poop. That strut he was doing it. Proto, you noticed that?

PROTO He’s a sexual creature through and through. Yeah, I mean the whole lip licking thing that he does with his tongue? Yeah, it’s a sexual signal that he’s giving off. Not just to women. But to everyone. Even inanimate objects.

DANNY Even poop.

SLIM Even a pile of crap! He’s got to give off the pheromones to the feces. [Slim & Danny laugh] Danny doesn’t have enough hot tea. Cripes alive.

PROTO Yeah his game with Ellie in the Jeep while Grant is sitting right there.

DANNY No shame.

PROTO Unhinged!

DANNY Future Mrs. Ex Malcolm

SLIM Alright, Proto, what’s on yours?

PROTO First thing on my list was, you know, this is a Spielberg movie. And in so many of his movies, he just knows how to set the stage for a movie and to draw you in and kind of like lay it all out as to what’s going on. And I was just thinking about the beginning of this, it starts with four scenes, different parts of the world. And he kind of sets up everything, you know that you’re first on the island, he sets up the danger, you see the them trying to put the Raptor in the cage, and things go wrong there. And then you see the science when the the lawyer goes to the cave, and they’re digging. And then you see Ellie and you see Alan Grant, the heroes, and then you see you even see Nedry who is the villain, and you know, the antagonist in this and who’s gonna cause all the issues on the park. And just setting up all those characters away, it moves through each one of those. It’s so interesting. And so like, just draws you in. And I just think it’s so many Spielberg movies where he does that so well, or in the first 10 minutes, you know, this is you know, it’s it can be a complicated story, but he’s able to just simplify it and introduce all these characters and make them so, so colorful and different and interesting. I just love the setup of this.

DANNY Unreal.

SLIM Yeah, I mean, first thing that comes to mind Amblin-esque is probably that Goonies intro.

DANNY Yeah, very related.

SLIM Alright, Danny, what’s your first one?

DANNY My first note is basically around a scene that I feel is probably one of my favorites in the film. It’s it’s everybody else’s. It’s not everyone’s favorite. But it’s a moment when the Jeep pulls up with Ellie and Grant, and they see the Brachiosaurus for the first time. And the music is kicking in. [clip of Jurassic Park plays] Every time I see this scene, I sit back and I think dinosaurs are real. Like, it’s so believable that this could happen. But even the science behind what they tell us how they made dinosaurs feels so simple and doable, that this whole film I feel like this can this can be done even if the science is completely bogus, the way they explained it to me feels real. So when I get to this scene, and I feel like I have, I always have the same reaction that Ellie has the face when Grant turns her head. I mean, it’s always shock and awe and wonder. And you’re seeing these scientists have like, a real reaction to what they’ve studied their entire life. They knew they wouldn’t they knew they would never see as a real life dinosaur. And it’s so wild, but it’s so believable. And they look over the ridge. And they’re herds, and they’re in the water. And John Williams’s score is just kicking in, and it’s just, it’s complete movie magic. And that’s the very beginning of this damn film! And it’s like, there’s so many of these little vignettes that are just perfection.

SLIM The acting from Sam and Laura in that scene has to be perfect too. And it is.

DANNY Has to be.

SLIM And it just looks legit, still.

DANNY It really does.

SLIM I will say that the 4k the Brachiosaurus was a little dated.

DANNY Yeah, that’s fine. It’s expected.

SLIM We don’t have to spend time on it. We don’t have to dwell on it.

DANNY If that Brachiosaurus looked perfect, I would have been shocked. There’s no way they fixed for the 4K.

SLIM How about the puppetry in this thing?

DANNY Stan Winston, legend.

SLIM Oh my god! Yeah, like even like when the T Rex heads coming in there. All that stuff looks so cool. It’s I wish they I mean, let’s go back. Let’s bring it all back, Proto, bring more puppetry.

PROTO That’s what really blew my mind is when I was thinking about this. I don’t think I ever while watching this, you know, especially as a kid when it first came out. I never thought that the dinosaurs looked fake, or like anything about them wasn’t real. I wasn’t like complete suspension of belief in that moment of just like this. This is happening. Like these are dinosaurs. There was nothing that I was seeing that I didn’t trust. The only thing that at the probably the weakest point to me is when they’re in the tree, and it has just the head of the dinosaur because they’re so close to it. It’s like all right, that’s not real. But everything else I feel like looks so good. The way the Raptors move, even when they’re in that field, and I know that was like CG, that looks amazing for 1993. Incredible.

DANNY What’s wild about that scene is when you watch some of the behind the scenes — because them actually creating the CG running dinosaurs was the like a new thing ILM Dennis Muren had to do for this film. I mean, they were gonna, they’re actually going to do stop animation, stop motion puppets for the dinosaurs. And when Steven shot that scene, he ran with a handycam. And so it was completely shaking, and they’re like, there’s no way we can have running dinosaurs with your shaking camera. We’ve never done this before. And they did it. And it looks amazing still.

SLIM I can’t imagine how this is like the first time they pulled it off and it still looks this good considering how old it is. It’s bonkers.

DANNY If you take the time to watch the two hour Return to Jurassic Park documentary, it’s fascinating. They were at the point where they are creating stop animation with these little clay dinosaurs. And Dennis Muren from ILM was like “I think I can do this with CG, give me a chance.” And he does a CG T-Rex and blows everybody’s minds. And so they pivot from claymation to CG and then the giant puppets and then that’s what they go with like on the spot.

SLIM It’s also pretty bonkers that this could have been claymation puppets.

DANNY Right? And they show footage of it and it is so bad. [Slim laughs] It’s scary bad what they were trying put through. But yeah, it’s wild the groundbreaking stuff they had to do for this film.

SLIM Daniel in chat just posted a behind the scenes photo of the T-Rex the crew underneath. It looks awesome. Is that in a park anywhere?

DANNY If it’s anywhere it’s probably going to be at Lucasfilm. But I mean, like the actual puppet itself?

SLIM Yeah, like the real T-Rex?

DANNY I don’t think it’s survived because when they were filming Stan Winston didn’t when they’re making the skin of the dinosaurs, they didn’t anticipate that the seat on the paddock was going to have rain. And so the skin of the dinosaurs is like a foam. And so as it rained it like sponged up the foam and the dinosaur got heavier and heavier and heavier as it went on. And there they were showing some scenes where the weight of the water was making it almost look like the dinosaur had chills. Like it couldn’t hold together. So I don’t think I don’t think it survived. After filming there, I don’t I mean, I’d be amazed if it was still in existence.

PROTO It’s in Spielberg’s garage.

SLIM Number two on my list. Let’s see. We didn’t talk about him, really, but Alan Grant. I am getting like super strong Indiana Jones vibes from him in this movie. He’s like another alternate universe Indiana Jones. I feel like you know, he’s wearing the hat, obviously. And he’s got his feet up. Maybe an homage to Indiana. I’m not sure, you tell me with that hat down. He’s trying to take a little nappy poo in that helicopter.

DANNY Can you imagine a crossover? Grant and Indy?

SLIM Oh my god.

DANNY Indy five. Alan Grant meets Indiana Jones.

SLIM IDW Comic Books.

DANNY Call us.

SLIM Are you listening?

PROTO Yeah, that’s a great point. This really, it feels like it’s a home run the whole scientist or professor you know turned adventurer. It’s so much fun between Alan Grant and Indiana Jones. Why aren’t we getting more of that? But just don’t cast Dwayne Johnson.

DANNY Oh god. Stop. Now you put it out there.

PROTO Or Chris Pratt.

DANNY Stop!

PROTO Or Ryan Reynolds. Or Timothée Chalamet. I don’t think there’s anyone that can play the role anymore, that’s the problem.

SLIM Oscar Isaac, Paul suggests in chat.

PROTO OI? Is he doing this? [Slim laughs]

DANNY OI can do it.

SLIM Does anyone call him that or you just make that up on that?

PROTO I’ve always called him that. Check the tapes. [Slim laughs]

SLIM But in short, love him in this movie. The scientists adventurer, I feel like the only place where scientists adventures live in television format is like on TBS What was that like library and television show went on that’s why I go now that’s where they go to die you know I watch my my in laws where they have the SD version of TBS on all day long. Proto, what’s on your list?

PROTO Probably my favorite character and this is it’s Nedry. Denis Nedry. His desk, his whole workstation, his vibe, you know, pure chaos theory. But I love it. I wish I could even figure out how to get to a level to operate my life in that way of just you know, you know being a you know a genius but then also a complete slob at the same time, bringing those things together. And then also just the idea that this one guy, one guy is programming the the entire network for this park. Like, like this thing. How much does this park costs? Like a billion dollars? And you’ve got like 10 people running the whole thing?

SLIM I mean, not even. It’s really just Samuel Jackson and Wayne Knight. They’re running everything. What happens if they’re both sick? It’s over.

DANNY It’s over. I mean, we see what happens when one disappears. [Slim laughs]

PROTO I think we have to flip the breakers. I don’t know.

SLIM Yeah, flip the breakers. We’ll see if everyone comes back in an hour, wipe the whole main frame. That’s how we fix this.

DANNY Proto, do you know the fan theory about Nedry being dressed as three different Goonies the entire film? So when he’s sitting there with Dodson, he’s dressed like a Chunk in his Hawaiian shirt. And then when he has his gray jacket over the Polo he’s dressed like Mouth and then when he throws the rain jacket on, he’s dressed like Mikey. So he’s like three Goonies in one.

PROTO Oh my gosh.

SLIM It should have been Chunk.

DANNY King Chunk.

SLIM American Icon, Chunk. [Danny laughs] Yeah, the idea that this is treated like a startup is pretty funny. They decided not to have locks on the doors of the cars.

DANNY So stupid.

SLIM I mean, Hammond? Could you have made any more wrong decisions in planning this park? I also thought it was funny how like, the kids showed up. And even Laura Dern was just like excited to see the kids at this park that’s not even barely operable with dinosaurs like in cages, like come on Laura, somebody should have some sense of these kids should not be here at all. Danny, what’s number two on your list?

DANNY Top scene in all of cinema. I’m gonna throw it out there. The T-Rex paddock scene. This scene is so captivating from beginning to end. Even when you question how there’s a giant cliff for a car to fall down and yet the T-Rex walks over the wall just fine. Like we don’t have to question all that right now. But I can’t get over the kids in this scene. Their performance of fearing this T-Rex, I believe it every time I watched this film. The mud on the ground when they’re getting squashed stresses me out. Grant just stepping out with a flare. I mean, that’s the biggest boss move ever. And he’s seeing a T-Rex for the first time in his life. And he’s going to confront it knowing that he’s heard stories that a T-Rex is based on movement, and he’s just gonna risk it all. I mean, that’s one of the most incredible things ever. And then Ian screws it up. Like always chaos theory. But man, that scene is so good. Yeah. And I always get so excited when it’s the puppet that T-Rex puppet we talked about earlier, but I can’t get over how good it is in person. Up Close. When she’s shining the light in the eye in the light, the eye dilates or it’s squints. It’s just ridiculous. And then when it comes to the roof of the explorer, it’s just pure terror and it’s it gets me every time. I mean that paddock scene is hands down one of the best scenes Spielberg’s ever done.

SLIM Yeah, that’s an iconic scene. One of my notes on it was about how the kids are flipped over and being crushed into the mud and the camera ships to them in the other car. They still haven’t even moved yet! [Danny & Slim laugh] They’re still frozen! Oh my God, let’s get a move on here boys. They’re about to get eaten.

DANNY They’re watching a T-Rex come through the roof at the kids and they’re just wiping the fog off the window. Like it’s nothing. But that scene is so good. It’s so good. I mean, it even leads into, you know, Laura finding Ian under the under the palm trees. And the chase after that is still amazing. I mean, it’s just that whole segment is such an amazing moment.

SLIM One of my notes to about that was and it kind of covers through the rest of the movie, even Beks called out the industrial kitchen. Like there are so many moments where these kids could have just been eaten in two seconds flat. Like the kitchen scene were Alan disappears to find Laura Dern and they’re like coming up with a plan. And they still leave the kids and they’re fighting a raptor for 10 minutes. Like you are so lucky that these kids get their heads eaten off in the last 10 minutes and you just appear. It’s just so bonkers.

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70mm

A podcast for film lovers, inspired by Letterboxd.