Favourite Jurassic Park Dinosaur

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Lord Vader

MemberTyrannosaurus RexJul-05-2013 3:23 PM

Decided to see what the most popular dinosaur from the Jurassic Park trilogy is most popular. I think that the Velociraptor will be, but, you never know. Mine is T-Rex. I love T-Rex. The Raptors may have been the main killers in all 3, but T-Rex is my favourite. I guess it was the way they introduced it, with the water in the cup rippling, the goat disappearing, and then the leg falling onto the car as the Rex swallowed the goat whole. I liked all the Rex scenes in the trilogy (maybe not as much in the third). The Raptors are important, but so is Rex, and the final roar at the end of the first one was awesome (I saw it in IMAX 3D with surround sound, it was so loud). The Raptors will likely be most popular because they were the main killers, they had a kind of, "creepy" for a lack of better word, quality to them. Their appearances were not as open as Rex or Spino (who I will get to next). While Rex and Spino chased after their human victims, the Raptors lied (not sure about spelling) in wait, sticking to the dense brush, darkness, and long grass. Spino, in my opinion, will be the least popular of the three I am listing. I think this because they introduced it wrong. Just because they were replacing Rex, didn't mean they had to kill it off. It also had a minor role in the film, it took out an airplane and was the reason they were stranded, but after that, it was minor didn't contribute much. Nothing against Spino, just my thoughts.

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Lord Vader
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Forgot to mention Compy's minor appearances. If there is one anyone likes better, list it in the comments, I listed the three main ones.

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Deltadromeus
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Raptors, they slaughter, and you never knew they were there.

Lord Vader
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That's what I mean, they had that element of surprise.

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Deltadromeus
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Although, you might know they were there if you look for dead bodies in the bushes. The raptors are so smart, that they would hide the evidence, wait for more people to come looking for the body, and kill them too.

Lord Vader
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Didn't they use the body as bait in the third one?

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Deltadromeus
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Yes, the raptors even kept him alive too, but very badly injured. Talk about smart, if he was dead, they wouldn't go down, if he was health, they wouldn't go down, if he was immobile and nearly dead, they'd go down.

t-rex90
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I think it's a tie between the T-Rex and The Velociraptors, I love them both but I think T-Rex is the more icomnic one between the 2 simply because well, he's T-Rex, the King Of the dinosaurs, plus his picture is on the logo of the title in the first two movies as well as the books, video games, etc. They only used Spino's picture for the 3rd film to show who the new super predator was. And really, who does'nt like those epic loud thunder foot steps T-Rex makes in any of the scenes? Also, he has the most recognizable roar in the franchise, the Velociraptors are a close second. That's my thought anyway.

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Of the three dinosaurs listed, my favorite is Spino. Mr. Happy, I agree that Spinosaurus was wrongly introduced into the film and exaggerated to unnecessary levels. However, I must disagree with some of your other comments. You said that Spino attacks the plane, but does not play any other major roles. How about when Spino makes several other attacks on Grant and the Kirby's, including nearly drowning Mrs. Kirby and attacking Mr. Kirby on top of the crane, or by indirectly driving the Ceratosaurus away when the Kirby's are digging for the satelite phone? Just because Spino doesn't make a heroic, triumphal final attack to save the humans like Rex doesn't mean Spino's roles as the antagonist are useless.

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futurepaleontologist1
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Dilos anyone? They may have been inaccurate, but watching them kill Nedry had that slow and painful death factor. Give 'em the old 1 2, am I right? I wanna see more Dilos in JP 2015

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t-rex90
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Agreed, the Dilophosaurus was really underused, seeing more of it in jp4 would be nice.

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Tyrannosaurus is my favorite of course. The raptors and Dilos were cool too. I like Spino as he was in real-life, but not the JP version. I can deal with the JP version of the raptors, but no offence to Spino fans, not the Spinosaurus. I love Ceratosaurus and wish he had more screen time for one thing. All in all, Tyrannosaurus is my favorite with the raptors taking a respectable backseat to the king.

"Men like me don't start the wars. We just die in them. We've always died in them, and we always will. We don't expect any praise for it, no parades. No one knows our names." ―Alpha-98

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Dilophosaurus' role in Jurassic Park was grossly undermined compared to the book. I would honestly PAY someone in order for Dilo to have more screen-time. Sure, in the book a Dilo kills Nedry, but that's certainly not all! The full ferocity and awesomeness of this dinosaur was not expressed in the movie. I will be SO happy if Dilophosaurus is included in Jurassic Park IV!! I am also anxious to see the raptors return. You just CAN'T have Jurassic Park without them! Hopefully they will be just as heart-stopping in the new movie as they were in the first!!

"Either way, you probably won't get off this island alive."

--Alan Grant

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I agree with you. I think the problem with the raptors is, nothing against them or anything, but they lost their touch after the first one. Don't get me wrong, they are still fearsome. However, the great thing about the original was that you never really saw the raptors until the very end. That's one of the greatest Hollywood tricks ever! Your imagination creates things that are far more terrifying than the real thing. That's why the first one was so good with the raptors. It kept you guessing. After that though, you kinda already knew what was coming. You knew what they looked like, that they were smart, etc. That's why they lost their touch in the second and third movie. Not saying they still weren't deadly, fearsome dinosaurs. But it just was not the same. You know what I mean?

"Men like me don't start the wars. We just die in them. We've always died in them, and we always will. We don't expect any praise for it, no parades. No one knows our names." ―Alpha-98

Lord Vader
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I didn't say that Spino was useless as an antagonist, I just said it was kind of minor. I might be wrong, I just haven't seen the movie in over a year (last time I trust my brother with one of my DVD's). I got it on Blu-Ray and plan on watching it soon.

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shambs
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For me T.Rex is perfect, especially in JP, and to date I have not seen any dinosaur to make me change my mind.

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@Mr Happy - To me, an antagonist with a minor role in a movie IS useless. Believe me, I watch Jurassic Park III just about every week, and Spino's roles are far from minor. Like I said, Spino is not nearly as glorious as Rex, but I wouldn't say that Spino doesn't contribute to the movie.

"Either way, you probably won't get off this island alive."

--Alan Grant

Lord Vader
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My memory of Jurassic Park 3 is sketchy. Like I said earlier, I haven't seen it in a while (might have to have a Jurassic Marathon with my friends this summer). I just don't have time to watch a movie once a week or even two weeks. I live on a farm and do a lot of work outside for my dad (I'm 14).

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No problem. That's cool that you live on a farm!

"Either way, you probably won't get off this island alive."

--Alan Grant

Lord Vader
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Not surprised you know so much about JP 3 if you watch it almost every week. If I could, I would watch the trilogy in a month (one each week and a different movie). Living on a farm is fun. I'm 14 and my dad lets me use a 1970's Remington 870 12 gauge, and drive a 2006 Ram 2500 Mega Cab.

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Dinosaur.Fanatic
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That's cool! You know I just watched JPIII yesterday because we were talking about it, and one of the bonus features has Jack Horner talking about all his theories about Rex being a scavenger... I just hope he doesn't screw up JP4 as the consultant. Also, I watched the fight scene in detail, and it was not entirely inaccurate. When Rex first gets Spino's neck in his jaws, he does not have a good grip at all. His teeth are only surrounding the upper portion of the neck. This enabled Spino to jurk loose and then lunge for Rex, getting a much better grip on his neck and snapping it. This leads me to think that it wasn't necessarily bite force that Spino used, but neck muscle for twisting.

"Either way, you probably won't get off this island alive."

--Alan Grant

Lord Vader
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I didn't think that Rex had a good grip on Spino. The fight wasn't completely inaccurate, but it wasn't very accurate either. Rex would have gone for the neck and tried to bite, not headbutt Spino. Spino, and all theropods, didn't have the necessary wrist action to snap a Rex's neck the way it did. I believe Spino could beat Rex sometimes, but not that way or easily. Imagine if Rex and Spino were the same size, instead of the 20 foot length difference, 5 foot height difference, and possible 2 ton weight difference, all in Spino's favour. Horner better not make Rex look like it was just a scavenger, and make it what it really was, a killer. What scavenger needs a 3-9 ton bite force.

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Deltadromeus
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I thought that Spino twisted t Rex's neck to the wrong position and that killed it. Mr Happy, is that a tractor, because I hate driving tractors.

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It did twist the Rex's neck. That snapped it. But Spino could not have done that in real life. That's what we are getting at. I really don't "like" Horner that much. His theories on Tyrannosaurus are so off in my opinion. In another bonus feature, Horner stated that he had uncovered a 45 ft long Tyrannosaurus and a hadrosaur of similar size. I will be honest I don't know what happened with that Rex, but if it was 45 ft, then it was 2-3 ft longer than Sue and would be the biggest T-rex yet discovered. Just figured I would mention that.

"Men like me don't start the wars. We just die in them. We've always died in them, and we always will. We don't expect any praise for it, no parades. No one knows our names." ―Alpha-98

Deltadromeus
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How do you know?

Rex Fan 684
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Know what? The battle or the 45 ft Rex?

"Men like me don't start the wars. We just die in them. We've always died in them, and we always will. We don't expect any praise for it, no parades. No one knows our names." ―Alpha-98

Dinosaur.Fanatic
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Yeah, how do you know Rex Fan? (Sorry, not trying to sound rude.) We can only estimate these things. Like I said above, in the case of the Jurassic Park III fight scene, Spino's jaw strength doesn't matter. It's his [b]neck[/b] strength. Spino has a good grip on Rex's neck, not powerful enough to crush bone, but strong enough to keep hold as he TWISTS Rex's neck, snapping it. His jaws are holding, but his NECK is twisting. Spino was a massive, powerful predator, quite capable of twisting and snapping a rival's neck. The jaws don't matter in this instance. That's what [i]I'm[/i] getting at.

"Either way, you probably won't get off this island alive."

--Alan Grant

Rex Fan 684
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I'm not talking about the neck muscles. I'm talking about the wrist action. If you notice, he holds the Rex in his jaws and places one hand right above the shoulder region and the other on the Rex's head. He then twists his hands and snaps the neck. He was simply using his jaws, and neck muscles I suppose, to hold the Rex relatively still. But he used his arms/hands to do the twisting motion. Spino, along with just about every other large theropod out there, did not have the wrist action needed to perform this. I watched that fight a few times to make sure I was getting the neck-snapping part right.

"Men like me don't start the wars. We just die in them. We've always died in them, and we always will. We don't expect any praise for it, no parades. No one knows our names." ―Alpha-98

Dinosaur.Fanatic
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I also watched the scene several times. I see what you mean about the wrist action, but Spino's action is a combination of wrist AND neck. And you must admit, Spino's wrist action relative to Rex must have been at least slightly more powerful. It's arms were built for scooping and grasping, all in the hands and wrists.

"Either way, you probably won't get off this island alive."

--Alan Grant

Rex Fan 684
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Oh yeah. Spino used it's hands and arms far more than Rex did. T-rex is all about the jaws and teeth while Spino is all about the arms and claws. Basically, they are polar opposites when it comes to how they fight and hunt. So we all agree that the way the Spino won was wrong. Not saying that Spino could not win once and a while, but not like that. In my opinion, he would have won by slashing the throat of the Rex with his hand claws. On a different note, I have an interesting thought. The Spinosaurus has been said to be a male. Or at least that's what I've heard. If it's a male, then did it change gender like the original dinosaurs in the first JP, or is it the offspring of earlier Spinos? We know that the Rexes, Raptors, and many other species were reproducing, but were the Spinos? If they were, that raises another question. How many other Spinos were on the island? If the one from JP 3 simply changed it's gender, then perhaps only 1. But if it was the offspring of other Spinos, then there would at least be 2 others, am I right? Just another unanswered question I thought of. Or perhaps iGen just made it a male and did not bother making it female because they never planned on having more than 1 Spino. I don't know. This thought is becoming more complex the more I think about it, haha

"Men like me don't start the wars. We just die in them. We've always died in them, and we always will. We don't expect any praise for it, no parades. No one knows our names." ―Alpha-98

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Spino's way [i]would[/i] be wrong if he was attacking fish, except he is fighting a Rex. Spino makes good use of his arms in twisting Rex's neck, as well as his powerful neck muscles to twist, along with his long jaws, not bone-crushing, but ideal for gripping Rex's neck. I would agree that Spino's methods were unusual, but in combat with a Rex, they were just right. That's an interesting point. Who knows if Spino was the first of embryos created, or if it was the offspring of several others? This makes me wonder why Malcolm and Sarah didn't run into one in The Lost World.

"Either way, you probably won't get off this island alive."

--Alan Grant

Favourite Jurassic Park Dinosaur

Lord Vader

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