In The Jurassic Era... (by the Editor)

I remember back twenty years ago, when I was a growing boy, in the summer just as it was breaking up for the school holidays that there was a buzz in the air about a movie that was being released in the cinema. A new movie which was groundbreaking in terms of it AI and special effects. A movie that was subject to some controversy over which rating it should be, either a PG, or a 12, due to the supposed scary, and violent scenes that were featured through the duration of the movie, scenes of blood and gore, and of children being chased by monstorous beasts...that's right folks, we're talking of Jurassic Park.

The Steven Spielberg movie that even his own kids were unable to see because of the ratings in America, ratings which were closely copied by Britain shortly after its release, when the 12 certificate became a 12A (12 years and over only, unless accompanied by an adult.)

This movie was a blockbuster, and became the highest grossing movie of all time, shortly after the time of release. Everyone I knew loved the movie. It was all the talk of the school even after the holidays had ended, with people wanting to know if there was anyone who actually had NOT seen it? People even had competitions regarding who had seen it the most. To be fair and honest, I think I must have been right up there with the highest attendees, as within four months I had already knocked up an impressive (or geeky) fifty-two viewings of the film. I remember this specifically as I kept track because of my other friends at the time also gunning for viewing glory. In fact, Jurassic Park became, and remains to this very day, the first and only movie which I went to the cinema to see more than three times. In the first fortnight I believe I had notched up 8 cinema viewings, but I remember my total cinema outings for this movie reached fourteen, which for me is completely unheard of, because I really need drive to go and see something in the cinema. It has to be relevant to my interests, and something that looks exciting, and has to be a mixture of all kinds of cinema genres, ie: action, adventure, comedy, drama, SCI-FI, and or fantasy, whether or not it is live action, or animation is usually irrelevant.

The movie sparked a whole world of excitement and imagination in my head, and brought out the best of my childhood in the years when others of the same age would be starting to grow tired of playing and carrying on with friends.

I became engrossed with Jurassic Park, almost obsessed to the point where I had to own all the action figures, all the dinosaurs, all the vehicles, and any T-shirt that had the JP and / or dinosaur skeleton branded on it became mine. I got Dinosaurs for Birthdays, dinosaurs for Christmas, and even remember playing in the attic of my old house with my brother, cousins, and friends with all the Jurassic Park toys and making the floor of that room a park in itself, with enclosures, and visitor centres, and tracks for the vehicles to follow, and of course the inevitable disasters that would happen when the dinosaurs escaped.

Michael Crichton (rest in peace) the author who wrote Jurassic Park, became my instant favourite author, overtaking my previous favourite, Stephen King, who for a twelve year old boy was a very cool favourite author to have. Jurassic Park became not only the first movie I ever watched in cinema more than twice, but also the first book I ever read more than four times, and also the first book I ever read twice back to back within two days. I remember staying at my Gran's house during the holidays that year when my parents were working and taking a novel over to read, and again being totally engrossed with it over the course of the forty hours or so that I was there, stopping only for food and sleep.

I also have fond memories of my friends from school staying overnight at my house, and watching it on VCR, yes those were the days before DVDs and Blu-Rays, and downloads, videos...you know? Those things with the tape that spun round as it played, just like a mini cinema reel...anyway, we must have watched that video fifty odd times over the course of six months. We started creating 3D drawings of our own, using cut out drawings of characters from the film, and pasting them into scenes also from the film, the one which springs to mind most freely is the scene with the velociraptors in the visitor centre kitchen with Tim and Lex trying to hide from them whilst their claws are tapping on the floor, you know the one, right?

Ian Malcolm, played by the amazing Jeff Goldblum, became my hero, as with his timely wit, the film became a great comedy amidst all the trauma of ripped flesh, and death, and decapitated lawyers, and the best of the jokes came from when he mentioned that line of "Yes, John but when the Pirates Of The Carribean breaks down the pirates don't eat the tourists!" That floored me every time.

...and so, with all these fond memories, and more, I would just like to salute one of the greatest movies, if not thee best movie, ever made, Jurassic Park, and say with much fondness, joy, and above all else, thanks... you made my childhood complete in more ways than you could even imagine. Crichton, Spielberg, and everyone who was involved in the whole JP saga... congratulations on your twentieth anniversary.

I would just like to finish on a geeky note by saying that my total movie viewing tally of Jurassic Park (the first one) stands now at 137. Thanks for reading.