The Lost World(s)

[img]http://media-cache0.pinterest.com/upload/143059725633818096_Wg8BgtGA_c.jpg[/img] About a month ago I wrote a discussion arguing that Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (writers of "Rise Of The Planet of The Apes" and co writers of "Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes") were great choices to pen JPIV. But can already published literature also be a source of inspiration? Truly loving a woman with ever fiber of a man’s being may drive that man to put himself in very precarious or possibly hazardous situations. Consider Edward Malone, the reluctant main protagonist in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World. Malone is an intelligent and diligent reporter at a respectable new paper company. He pesters his editor/boss to allow him go on an expedition into uncharted territories in hopes of recording dangerous and enticing events. After much persistence his editor agrees and directs Malone’s attention to the now slightly disgraced Professor Challenger. Professor Challenger is the now clichéd kooky old guy that has seen some mind boggling activity but cannot prove to anyone that he indeed witnessed such phenomenon. To abridge this: Malone and Challenger do embark on the expedition with a skilled team of hunters and medics. They physically encounter primitive and carnivorous creatures and only about half of the explorers survive the ordeal. The enduring of this mayhem was not because Malone wanted a story to catapult his journalism career. It was because the woman that Malone loved said she must marry a brave man who is not reserved and never displays fear. Despite returning from the expedition with proof of a lost ecosphere, alas, Lady Gladys Hungerton has married the not so brave clerk that worked in a shop near Malone’s place of employment. The paragraph above is not meant to be a review of classic literature. It is meant to be an argument for proper audience orientation. Challenger is the ultimate badass that guides the explorers through, from, and sometimes directly into danger. Malone is the average man caught in the extraordinary situation that the reader wants to live, not only because he is a likable character, but also so they can witness Malone being the man that the conniving Lady Hungerton wants him to be. Although Malone does not win the heart of Hungerton, the reader is extremely satisfied because Malone has agreed to go on another expedition with Professor Challenger and he has more than proved that he is too good intellectually and in other capacities for the self serving Lady Hungerton who has gone on to marry a meager grocery bagger. Jurassic Park IV needs true audience orientation to succeed. The Ian Malcolm character in the 1993 film was the anchor to orient the audience. He was excited to see the remarkable achievements of the genetics engineers of InGen. Yet he questioned WHY we were doing this? What were the consequences of merging species and ecosystems that separated by 65 million years? Malcolm’s sarcasm and wit filled the void were there were no action or dramatic scenes. And this is what the film version of The Lost World and Jurassic Park III were missing. These films just threw people on islands with dinosaurs and either they survived or did not survive the contrived ordeal. The 1997 film even resorted to going down the Godzilla route (which is only correct if it is indeed Godzilla); by having a T-Rex non-thrillingly rampage San Diego. The 1912 and 1995 The Lost World Novels featured plausible environments, yet these environments were such richly detailed that the reader is immersed in environments that are either uncharted on Earth or exist only in fiction. Producer Frank Marshall has stated that he is excited about the advancements in technology that have come forth since the debut of Avatar. The first thought that comes to mind about this statement is the ability to generate photorealist and full fluid motion dinosaurs. However Mr. Marshall has stated that animatronics will be prevalent in JPIV along with advanced CGI. Thus another possibility is creating more lavish worlds that man and dinosaurs can interact. In most cases nothing tops actual locations, but imagine a world rendered in the detail of the jungles of Avatar or industrial design on par with Prometheus. If done properly the audience will not have déjà vu when action sequences are taking place. I read Michael Crichton's "The Lost World" once a year. I discovered the novel in my high school's library in my freshman year. David Koepp's adaptation merged characters and sacrificed a slower yet much more intense/involving story for a faster but non-engaging plot. Cuts will be made to any novels with adapting, but in this case more muscle than fat was cut. Dr. Crichton's The Lost World (in the tradition of the 1912 novel) allows the reader to witness the consequences of disrupting evolution while being in the middle of terrific action. There is a sequence where Raptors are pursuing the characters into an open field. There is certain death within moments for these characters but the Raptors turn around due to fear of this open field. In this field is a chameleon-like carnivore that allows for Hitchcockian suspense when the humans encounter this creature. There are also more straightforward action sequences that involve major character being dragged to T-Rex nests to be feasted upon by the most famous prehistoric predator's young. I believe that the Jurassic Park series is not dead and can make an impact critically and financially. [img]http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/upload/156851999491526719_6Psuzywa_c.jpg[/img]