Back in the summer of 1993, you couldn’t look anywhere without being reminded of Jurassic Park. We’re not complaining, as the Steven Spielberg adaptation of the Michael Crichton novel is a verified masterpiece, as the filmmaker managed to take what could have been B-movie schlock and turned it into a gripping and ahead-of-its-time spectacle.
From fast food chains to toys to merchandise to video games, the record-breaking success of the movie meant it invaded all corners of pop culture. However, one realm in which it failed to capitalize was as an animated series. Even <a href="https://comicvibe.com/stranger-things-prequel-series-other-worlds-coming-to-netflix-in-2028/” title=”'Stranger Things' prequel series 'Other Worlds' coming to Netflix in 2028″>stranger, with everything from Sonic the Hedgehogto MC Hammer getting their own animated series, Jurassic Park failing to cash in on the trend feels like a glaring omission.
That’s not for lack of trying, though. In 1993, before the movie had been released, Universal Cartoon Studios was developing the animated series Escape from Jurassic Park. The team over at Jurassic Outpost have gotten their hands on the promotional sizzle reel for the series, which you can see below.
Jurassic Outpost describes the plan for the series as follows:
“Before the feature film even made it to the screen, Universal Cartoon Studios commissioned the development of an animated sequel: Escape from Jurassic Park. Picking up where the film left off, it would have continued the clash between InGen and Biosyn, with Hammond returning to Jurassic Park alongside Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm as they worked together to make his dream a reality. Overseen by Will Meugniot (The Real Ghostbusters, Captain Planet and the Planeteers), with a visual style developed by renowned artist William Stout, a full season of 23 episodes was outlined. A one-minute pitch film was also developed, illustrating the potential style of the series, including groundbreaking CGI elements created by MetroLight.”
Given how strongly Jurassic Park had permeated pop culture in the 1990s, it almost seems like a Mandela Effect when confronted with the fact that we didn’t actually have such a TV series to tune into on Saturday mornings. Luckily, it was only a few years later that we got another adventure with The Lost World: Jurassic Park, resulting in another marketing deluge.
It wouldn’t be until 2020 that we got a Jurassic Park animated series, which came in the form of Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous on Netflix. At first, the series seemed to merely be an adventure set within the franchise, though by the time Jurassic World Dominion rolled around, it was confirmed that in Season 5 of Camp Cretaceous, a character discovered the can of shaving cream that contained dinosaur DNA that Dennis Nedry tried to smuggle off the island in the original movie.
Camp Cretaceous spawned the sequel series Jurassic World: Chaos Theory. While both of these series were effective in their own right, they utilize the popular medium of 3D animation, so revisiting this original 1993 pitch reminds us of the magic and charm of early ’90s animation.
What do you think of the footage? Let us know in the comments below!
- #Escape from Jurassic Park
- #Jurassic park
