What if the sequel to a beloved classic isn’t as bad as everyone says? On this minisode of Quantum Recast, we’re joined by Ash, an unyielding advocate for "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," and Aly Dale, who’s can't say its her favorite Jurassic adventure.
Dive in as we recount our personal experiences with the Jurassic Park franchise, from the thrill of seeing dinosaurs for the first time on VHS to the joy of owning the movie on DVD. You'll hear Ash's passionate arguments for why "The Lost World" deserves more recognition and Aly’s reflections on her initial criticisms.
We compare it with the original film, acknowledging the superior craft of "Jurassic Park" while making a case for the standalone enjoyment of its sequel. Our discussion spans from fond childhood memories and the influence of other dinosaur media like "The Land Before Time," to an analysis of the story’s divergence from its potential plot points. Also, we reminisce about our fascination with dinosaurs and how these films still hold a special place in our hearts.
Embark on a deeper exploration of "The Lost World," from Jeff Goldblum's iconic performance to the unforgettable character of Roland Tembo. We discuss the shift in narrative style, the financial triumphs, and the visceral horror that defines the franchise. Plus, we tackle the challenges of legacy sequels, like balancing authenticity with innovation, and why some recent entries fall short. Wrapping up, we share our thoughts on Spielberg’s execution, the CGI advancements, and our favorite dinosaur moments, all while celebrating the art of open-minded discussions and appreciating different perspectives on these timeless films.
Thanks for listening; If you feel like supporting us, this is where you do that!
Patreon (Just a buck to show your support!)
BuyMeACoffee
Check out or other content/socials here.
Linktree
Tapbio
Hosts:
Cory Williams (@thelionfire)
Nick Growall (@nickgrowall)
Co-Hosts (Season 5):
Aly Dale (@alydale55)
Ash Hurry (@filmexplorationah)
Cass Elliott (@take5cass)
Terran Sherwood (@terransherwood)
Voice of the Time Machine:
Kristi Rothrock (@letzshake)
Editing by:
Nick Growall
Featured Music:
"Quantum Recast Theme" - Cory Williams
"Charmer" - Coat...
What if the sequel to a beloved classic isn’t as bad as everyone says? On this minisode of Quantum Recast, we’re joined by Ash, an unyielding advocate for "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," and Aly Dale, who’s can't say its her favorite Jurassic adventure.
Dive in as we recount our personal experiences with the Jurassic Park franchise, from the thrill of seeing dinosaurs for the first time on VHS to the joy of owning the movie on DVD. You'll hear Ash's passionate arguments for why "The Lost World" deserves more recognition and Aly’s reflections on her initial criticisms.
We compare it with the original film, acknowledging the superior craft of "Jurassic Park" while making a case for the standalone enjoyment of its sequel. Our discussion spans from fond childhood memories and the influence of other dinosaur media like "The Land Before Time," to an analysis of the story’s divergence from its potential plot points. Also, we reminisce about our fascination with dinosaurs and how these films still hold a special place in our hearts.
Embark on a deeper exploration of "The Lost World," from Jeff Goldblum's iconic performance to the unforgettable character of Roland Tembo. We discuss the shift in narrative style, the financial triumphs, and the visceral horror that defines the franchise. Plus, we tackle the challenges of legacy sequels, like balancing authenticity with innovation, and why some recent entries fall short. Wrapping up, we share our thoughts on Spielberg’s execution, the CGI advancements, and our favorite dinosaur moments, all while celebrating the art of open-minded discussions and appreciating different perspectives on these timeless films.
Thanks for listening; If you feel like supporting us, this is where you do that!
Patreon (Just a buck to show your support!)
BuyMeACoffee
Check out or other content/socials here.
Linktree
Tapbio
Hosts:
Cory Williams (@thelionfire)
Nick Growall (@nickgrowall)
Co-Hosts (Season 5):
Aly Dale (@alydale55)
Ash Hurry (@filmexplorationah)
Cass Elliott (@take5cass)
Terran Sherwood (@terransherwood)
Voice of the Time Machine:
Kristi Rothrock (@letzshake)
Editing by:
Nick Growall
Featured Music:
"Quantum Recast Theme" - Cory Williams
"Charmer" - Coat...
1997.
Speaker 2:And now it's only a matter of time before this lost world is found.
Speaker 1:Hopefully we've kept this island quarantined and contained Ooh, ah, that's how it all starts. Later there's running and screaming. I need you to stand around the queue immediately. It was the worst at this History of bad ideas. Welcome to Quantum Recast. It's one of our minisodes. It's minisode time. Ladies and gentlemen, we've got Allie Dale here, hello, hello, and from across the pond, and newly married.
Speaker 3:Newly married man, oh, my man, not guys. Ash Curry, how are you, sir? Um well, it's so good to be back. It's been a minute since I've been back. My advice don't get married if you can't, it's expensive it's expensive.
Speaker 1:I can well when. When you do it big like you did, I can, I can also imagine it it was.
Speaker 3:It was also expensive on top of it it was crazy, but just keeping a movie themed everyone's place names was the name of their favorite movie, so that was really oh, that is so cool, that's awesome so I had to ask every single guest what their favorite movie was that was really just collecting information so you know who your real, who your real friends.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh. I did a thing where I had to watch every single film that I hadn't seen, so I think there was two or three that I hadn't seen, so yeah, okay, jurassic Park.
Speaker 1:Were there any weird ones?
Speaker 3:There was a lot of duplicates, so Harry Potter came up three times, save it. Private Ryan came up three times. Jurassic Park came up twice. Oh, the one film I didn't see was Coco, the Disney film.
Speaker 1:So I had to watch that and didn't see was Coco the Disney film, so I had to watch that and that was amazing. That is a really good one, great film, great film. Can't believe I missed it, but yeah, it was a good one. It was a good one, awesome. Well, speaking of Jurassic Park, that's why we're here today, not for the original, but for the sequel, the Lost World, jurassic Park, because this minisode is a defense of the sequel. And what these are is basically Corey, who's not here today, uh, but he has a theory that often he wants to argue that sequels are better than the original. He doesn't like the building of the world, he likes playing in the sandbox, and so usually it's Corey sitting here telling me why he thinks X movie is better than the original. But today we have two diehard Jurassic Park fans.
Speaker 3:And.
Speaker 1:Ash, in particular, is a staunch supporter of the Lost World, and it's on him today to convince Ali, who in history has spoken out against Lost World. I have and try to convince us that it's better than what maybe we remember.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I have a very fond memory of the Lost World and a lot of people hate it.
Speaker 2:So I'm willing to defend it's.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna, I'm gonna stand trial for it oh good luck, for sure, for sure.
Speaker 1:Well, just to dive in. So usually what we do on these minisodes is I'll give a comparison of the two, and so we'll just dive into jurassic park itself. So if you have been living under a rock since the cretaceous period, um, jurassic park was released in june 11th 1993. It's based on a book by michael crinkton. If I say that wrong, I apologize. We're not great at saying names here, but uh, steven spielberg directed. It was released, yes, june 11th 1993, on a budget of 63 million, made 1.58 billion when adjusted for inflation. Pretty crazy now. And then along comes the lost world jurassic park, four years later, released on july 18th 1997, it had a budget of 73 million but only made 618 million when adjusted so obviously only oh I know, I know only 618 million I'm just saying.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I do remember uh growing up. So for me personally and we can discuss this very quickly but jurassic park was obviously a big deal and as a child like I was not allowed to watch it the first one. When it came out I did sneak over to a friend's and we started watched it and young nick got a little freaked out and I think I blamed it on like my parents shouldn't let me watch this. But uh, nick was more than ready for Lost World Jurassic Park and that was actually one of the first again like live action adult pg-13 movies I got to have on VHS cassette and I remember it very vividly. It had the hologram uh VHS on the front where the t-rex like pops burst through the the logo. That's pretty cool, pretty cool if you can find that on eBay.
Speaker 1:It pretty sweet.
Speaker 3:I don't think I have it anymore. It's lost a time it would.
Speaker 1:That was really my first super deep dive into Jurassic Park and that world. I have some fond memories of it for sure, but I do recall the backlash. It wasn't as big of a deal as the first one. I'm just going to ask really quick, Ash, what was your experience with watching the Lost World?
Speaker 3:Well, the Lost World. Well, I mean, yeah, first off Jurassic Park. Yeah, big deal in my life, absolutely loved that movie. It was sort of the part of like I kept going around relatives' house and they always had that one VHS, that one black VHS with the dinosaur logo, and I was like, what is this film at everyone's house? Because I was born in 89, so you know, going around people's house, people had already bought the vhs and it was just sitting on shelves and then eventually I'd watch it and there was nothing like sexy about the cover, it's just black no, it was clean and like it wasn't telling you anything, 65 million years in the making that's it, yeah.
Speaker 3:And you know less is more and you know I watched it around my relatives. And then then the thing with the Lost World it was always on TV. Every time I turned on the TV it was on there. I never watched it at the cinema, I never had a big opening thing. I never, like looked forward to watching it. I just caught it on TV one time and I was like this is a great film, this is amazing, and I think I bought that on DVD to. But bear in mind, when I first watched this, I had the lens of a 14-year-old kid who loves action loves cheese.
Speaker 1:This is amazing.
Speaker 3:It's so cool and this movie does have like 50, I'm pretty sure 50% more dinosaurs than the first movie. But I loved it, I absolutely love it and I hold on to that feeling of a 14-year-old Ash and I still. I know, you know, every film has its flaws and jurassic park is far superior, but the lost world was just a fun ride and I can still watch that film and it'll still be a fun ride and for me now it's more of a background movie that I'll watch now and again. You know it's one in the background while I'm on my phone, which is blasphemous to say on a movie podcast, but it is one of those movies where I can do that and be comfortable. Um, but yeah, I love the Lost World, I love that film.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what I found out recently was that there was a book, novel, but it didn't come out till after the Jurassic Park blew up and Michael Crinkton was pressured to write a sequel. He's never written one, but he was while shooting the novel's film adaptation. Spielberg believed that if a sequel were made it would involve the retrieval of, like, the canister that contained the dino dna lost, but we just completely didn't do that at all. So it's, it's fine that would have been sick too, I think that's actually a plot point.
Speaker 1:Taran probably has brought this up to me before that of the video game, one of those telltale.
Speaker 2:Oh, I think you're right.
Speaker 1:I think it's a plot point or it's like a side cool, or something like that as well, no matter so, ali. So so, ash, you still believe in jurassic park superiority, but lost world still has a close place in your heart and you find you believe it to be a solid film nonetheless. 100.
Speaker 3:Yeah look, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna beat around, the bush jurassic park is the better film, but the lost world is getting a bad rap and I want to put that to an end. And it is a good film and I think a lot of the thing is that attachment it has to the original. You can't beat an original movie. I mean, some films have tried and failed, like the Godfather and Top Gun and we'll find out with Gladiator, but it's going to be either a financial or critical or pop culture disaster when you try and do a sequel to a classic so you have to look at it from a standalone movie because you're just piggybacking off a classic and you're never going to win. So if you you watch it from a standalone point, remove all the attachments from the original. It's a good movie, it's a great film for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, that's Ash's opening opening statements. So Ali tell us about your experience growing up with the Lost World and the original Jurassic Park.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to be 110% honest. I do not remember the first time I watched either of them, because I was born in 92. So Jurassic Park came out literally before I turned one. So I do not remember it. According to my parents, my brothers let me watch it when I was three and apparently my mom was not very happy about that, and apparently the first time I watched it I was terrified. And then for some reason I decided to watch it again and I absolutely fell in love with it, which I love. Dinosaurs anyways. I I'm a huge growing up. I mean I loved barney, I loved the land before time series, up until the fifth one. We're back.
Speaker 1:I mean, just I bailed on land before time when they started singing so the second one I was all like I was so hyped and then, like little foots run up and that's music gets'm like, wait a minute.
Speaker 2:I used to pull out our keyboard and pretend to play along.
Speaker 1:Hell yeah, what were you?
Speaker 3:saying Ash, I'm sorry. I mean I haven't seen the second land before time. I was emotionally wrecked after the first movie.
Speaker 1:They're not as emotional of a roller coaster as the first one. They definitely went the. We're playing it safe and we're just having fun, add new friends and stuff I will argue.
Speaker 2:The fourth one actually is is actually pretty solid, but that may also be because one of the main characters name is ally and I never saw an ally growing up.
Speaker 1:Little foot got a girlfriend dash.
Speaker 2:That's what happened how many say maybe four of them oh, there's like 13 or 14 now, but I watched up until the fifth one, yeah, which was the mysterious island. I still remember all of the names to them, but anyway. So, yeah, I loved dinosaur, did you?
Speaker 1:see 13. Is the answer 13? Okay, yeah, that's what I was thinking. Well, okay, so the success spawned an additional 13 direct to video musical sequels so there was actually 14.
Speaker 2:Okay, interesting, wow.
Speaker 1:Well, I will probably pass on watching those ali's gonna start a podcast where she reviews each and every Land Before Time.
Speaker 3:Mary Sucks killed the Land Before Time.
Speaker 2:I'm just kidding, anyways. But yeah, so I loved dinosaurs. Growing up I had a bunch of books that had dinosaurs in them. I was obsessed, and my parents my mom especially likes to brag that before I turned four I knew all of the dinosaurs' names in Jurassic Park and then by the time I was four I had the entire movie memorized. So yeah, I was obsessed. So Jurassic Park has been my favorite movie literally since I was three. The Lost World. So and this is where I let them know ahead of time my feelings on a lost world are completely irrational. They don't really make sense, if I'm being perfectly honest. But I I had a weird thing as a kid where I couldn't stand sequels that didn't have the majority of the main cast in it.
Speaker 2:And so I think that is where a large part of my aversion to the Lost World kind of started. Was that, for one, I didn't? No offense to Malcolm. I didn't care about him as a kid, like he was not the kid you know I didn't care about, because he was the mathematician, if I'm not mistaken. I cared about paleontologists and the botanists. I thought they were the ones.
Speaker 1:And I think that's why the true heroes of science and dinosaurs, yeah exactly.
Speaker 2:I think that's what it is, because I loved science as a kid. Oh my God, this is making so much sense. But yeah, so I think, and that's also why I prefer Jurassic Park 3 over the Lost World, which that is another kind of. It's a little spicy to some people yeah, it is, and I, and again ash's, ash's face. I'm sorry, this is your statement.
Speaker 2:I will not interrupt yeah, yeah, so, anyway, so, yeah. So I don't remember the first time I watched the lost world. I just remember watching it as a kid and absolutely just really disliking it absolutely not yeah, nope, I think I've seen it three or four times maybe in my life but I yeah, I'm not a fan okay, well, before, before we dive any further into into maybe, rewatches and stuff of that nature, yeah, that's the thing.
Speaker 1:Like lost world seems to be kind of like meh to a lot of people and then. But then jurassic park 3 is very divisive very divisive like some. Some people are like actually like prefer that one over over, like lost world and like the lost jurassic world sequels that have come out. And some people like are like alley, which is like absolutely not. So, ash, are you I'm assuming you're the side that's just burning with fire?
Speaker 3:ah, I think, I think nostalgia holds a massive place because it's sam neill, that is the you know. When he, when he came, when he was announced to come back for the last movie, dominion, I was like, yeah, I'm gonna watch this, this is gonna, this is great. Yeah, and that film was shocking, by the way, that was awful.
Speaker 2:But it was so bad it was.
Speaker 3:It was horrendous. I don't know who, I don't know what they were thinking. It was like a comedy sketch at times. But anyway, jurassic park three. I remember enjoying it at the time. But then you know, after looking back at the three movies, I was actually the worst one and it wasn't great. And I think again, you know you're using the character of grant to sell tickets and this island of a situation which is very domestic, nothing scientific about it. It's like a family affair with william h macy, who is great in the movie.
Speaker 1:But yeah, absolutely the elements of of a jurassic park movie are very much not just the action and the dinosaurs, but it's also a lot of theoretical man versus nature, man versus science kind of discussion that are going on.
Speaker 1:That's very prevalent in the first two. The third one is just straight up like action adventure, like it's a rescue story, and then it's very much like a roller coaster dinosaur ride. Personally, I actually like Jurassic Park 3. I don't mind that it's just an adventure thing. I kind of like the idea of like let's just an adventure thing. I kind of like the idea of like let's just have these separate little side adventures of people being dumb enough to go on the island yeah but, but I can get where it's like.
Speaker 1:Well, it's not the essence of what jurassic park's exactly needed to be done.
Speaker 3:It needs to be done and I'm glad they did it as well, like it's a good way of doing it. It's just they wasted a movie with sam neill and they could have exploited him better in a different. Yeah, they could have used him better, but anyway we'll get like the malcolm character. By the way, he is a ki titian, so technically he is a scientist oh there you go well, pardon moi then again, I agree with ali.
Speaker 3:I actually I prefer the character of alan grine. I love him. He's he's my favorite character and that was the big thing missing from the second movie for me. But you have the role with another og, which is malcolm, because they, you know, you're three ogs, four ogs, I guess, so you've got two out of the four in the movie.
Speaker 1:So sure, not bad, it's not bad, yeah before we start really picking it apart, I just want to give a quick rundown of our useless critics stats so that we can kind of compare and contrast a little bit here. Okay, so the original jurassic park rotten tomatoes gives it a 92 from critics. Imdb it sits at 8.2. Metacritic gives it a 68. They're pretty harsh. Fan frans gave it 8.8. Letterbox it sits at 4.1. Now, uh, for jurassic park, for individual choices, we have ally with a five of five, yes, ash with a five of five and weirdly, I have a four out of five. I don't know, I don't know. Maybe, maybe it's time for a rewatch for Jurassic park. It's been a couple of years since I watched it, but I don't hate it. I don't disagree with it. I think it just didn't have the same not watching it when it came out immediately, and then, uh, yeah, not being allowed to watch it Cause I was watch star wars, was allowed to watch indiana jones. That has tons of scary crazy mature themes and stuff.
Speaker 1:But then jurassic park was like, yeah, it's a little scary, let's, let's keep, let's wait, let's hold on.
Speaker 3:It's scary, though, jurassic park like the opening scene the credit. Oh, it's very scary, for sure for sure um ebert, gave it three stars yep so not bad.
Speaker 1:Not bad, he definitely was praising it. We won't dive too far into ebert, because then we'll just get on to a rants about everts choices and stuff. But uh, in comparison, the uh sequel lost world has a rotten tomatoes critic score of 53 percent.
Speaker 2:It's really not that bad it's not terrible, yeah, but it's not, it's not super respectful yeah yeah
Speaker 1:um, imdb, it sits at 6.6, which is, I feel, fair. Uh, metacritic was actually better at 59. And then letterbox gives it a 3.1 out of5. So it's not hateable, it's more middling of the road for a lot of people. Ash, you give it a 4 out of 5. Alley, it sits at 2.5 out of 5 and after my rewatch the other day, I give it a 3.5. I feel it's pretty. I feel it's pretty solid. To be honest with you, roger ebert, however, gave it two stars, so he was not as enthused about the Jurassic Park sequel.
Speaker 2:Oh man Interesting.
Speaker 1:Honestly. So, yeah, we have the critics their thoughts and I think really what that helps is it gives us a really like nice zoom in on like what people were thinking at the time that it came out and stuff. And sometimes, like we've seen, critics disagree with audiences. Audiences can love something that the critics hate, but I do think there was a general consensus of like, well, this isn't as good as jurassic park, and they had it and, and a lot of people maybe felt that there were flaws and stuff, like you guys were talking about like the favorite cast. People didn't come back. Jeff goldblum was back, but, uh, maybe not enough to pull people in, maybe the movie wasn't as dynamic as the original, but yeah, so this is the moment, this is uh, ash, I'm gonna start with you. So you, you tell me in defense of the sequel, ash, why do you feel that lost world needs to be given its due?
Speaker 3:I just want to start off by saying that jurassic park is, of course, the better film. I just want to say that right off the bat, that film single-handedly made dinosaurs cool and relevant again. So I am going to say that film is the best film. But, like I said, whatever the sequel was going to be to that movie, I assure you was definitely going to be a failure in some light or fall. Commercial critical culture yeah right, no matter what.
Speaker 3:But if you look at it as a single movie, like I said before, the film isn't bad, just like indiana jones isn't that bad. It's the problem with attachments when you have original movies and sequels, because you have sequels to everything and you're going to have this problem with Gladiator, with Ocean's Eleven, with any film that's going to be remade, which eventually every film will. They're talking about Speed 3 at the moment, which is great, but again you're going to have these same problems. It's attachments and expectations the audience gains from prior movies and you just can't replicate the origin. You can only really expand on it and it's a losing battle. So you have to look at the film very differently and the only real reason why you make sequels for the business is for money, but for audiences, to keep that dream alive, to keep these characters going, to keep you know that you know their lives to continue in a different adventure, and I think the lost world does that and I just don't think it gets its due credit. And it's Steven Spielberg again, and it is a.
Speaker 3:Crichton book. So they're not doing anything. The first one didn't. And if you look at the novel, I mean the Lost World actually sticks more to the novel than Jurassic Park did. So if you separate, you know, if you just get rid of Jurassic Park and you start the movie as a whole, it's still a very good movie.
Speaker 3:And I think I just we talk about characters. I love sam neill. I mean he looks like. He looks like the grounded man, nothing explosive about him in terms of muscle looks or charisma, just your everyday man.
Speaker 3:And steven spielberg does this all the time with his movies. He casts everyday guys like roy schneider in jaws or sam neill in this movie, or liam neeson in scheider's schindler's list or richard dreyfus in clones, account close encounters. But when he doesounters, but when he does catch an action star, they're usually playing like a coward, like Tom Cruise in War of the Worlds. And what this allows is sort of to focus, you know, put the focus through the audience eyes of a relatable protagonist. Which is why you have two sides of the story here with Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill, because you have a very good looking, charming man leading this movie and the timing is everything charming man leading this movie and the timing is everything, because you had two sides of the 90s which I think we discussed in godzilla, like. You've got the very gritty early 90s, then you've got the mtv second half of the 90s and both films sort of fall either side of it, and I think you need they.
Speaker 3:It just happened to be that bad timing and it needed more sex. Yes, and that's that's. That's exactly what it was. You had jeff goldblum, the, the man you know, all in black sexy doesn't play the action star. He doesn't play the action star in this movie.
Speaker 2:No no.
Speaker 1:I think, jeff Goldblum, that's a good discussion point, because I think in the first movie it's kind of in a weird way, the Johnny Depp effect like the Jack Sparrow effect, because in the first movie.
Speaker 1:He's free to be the freewheeling you know doesn't have to have true moral standing, he has an arc of his own in the movie but he's allowed to have the quips, the one liners that makes him one of the popular characters. You know, grant and them are the ones that are having to be the straight laced, like what's happening. We got to get through this. So for me I think what was interesting at least growing up, was kind of seeing Jeff Goldblum, the Malcolm of Jurassic lost world, and kind of being almost feeling like it was a separate character to an extent. Um, but I think it rewatch, I think what.
Speaker 1:What you have to consider is like this man just went through a traumatic event four years prior and now I think that there was like a growing up that was going on with that and we're catching and they do like it's it's four years after the incident in the storyline. So I think you're dealing with a guy who's aged a bit, grown up a little bit, realizes that his thoughts and theories were kind of wrong but also kind of right in different ways, like he talks with Richard Attenborough's character, but I think he's also like him having a daughter. Him, it's him kind of coming to terms with his past while also dealing with, like trying to be like the modern version of himself, and that's something that I just picked out on this rewatch a little bit.
Speaker 2:But I think I'm not the only one that kind of felt that way, like al you kind of were feeling the similar kind of thoughts yeah, but you know, honestly, it's a valid point that he just went through a really traumatizing experience, um, where he he legitimately almost died multiple times um, very violently, and and so it does kind of make sense that he, his personality, might change and his values and his morals would all change. But yeah, that was one issue that I had was that it felt like two completely different characters. But that does that's valid.
Speaker 1:Well, now he. But it's the thing, it's the jack spears. Now you're in the lead role and you have to like make decisions and like do a lot of like the heroic things. And there's plenty of jeff goldblum isms. There's plenty of in Malcolm. This like yeah, the first you know 30 minutes of the movie. He's trying to convince everyone. No, no, get off the island, julian Moore, get off the island, sarah, we gotta go but this is the good thing, this is.
Speaker 3:This is another reason why I like, uh, this movie as well, and just sort of to go off the jeff goldblum thing, because this is the only sequel he's really done besides the indiana jones movie. Right, you've got jeff goldblum. He's a good looking, charming man who's at the top of his game. He's just come off independence day, so he is the biggest star and you could argue he was the biggest star in the first movie too, because I would say more people knew him from the fly than Sam Neill did, so he wasn't the main character.
Speaker 3:Now, obviously, you're in 1997, you're doing a sequel, You've got him as the leading man and you know and it does back it up because Jurassic Park 3 was actually a critically financial disaster and this one wasn't.
Speaker 1:So it does back up Jeff Goldblum. Jeff Goldblum was probably the better pick as the lead actor. To touch on what you were saying, it grossed $72 million domestically that week at its opening weekend which was at that time the biggest opening weekend gross in history.
Speaker 2:Oh, interesting.
Speaker 1:It's funny because it broke the record set by Batman Forever, but Forever broke the record of Jurassic Park which in turn took it from Batman Returns.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, this whole back and forth.
Speaker 1:How dare they, the bat and the T-Rex just going at it the entire?
Speaker 2:time. It's so funny that Batmanman forever was the biggest.
Speaker 1:Well, I think that's at one point there was so much hype around those and I think that's the thing is like we don't think of those movies as like greatest of all time, but I think the hype behind lost world forever returns. There was some of those just didn't have the legs of their originals or their predecessors that's fair well, that's.
Speaker 3:That's a very good analogy. I mean, the lost world is basically the batman forever 2d batman that tim burton did, in my opinion. That's how I see it, because it's more colorful, it's more mtv. Then you've got the gritty style of tim burton. I think it's actually quite a accurate comparison, because they sort of both came out around about the same time.
Speaker 1:I think the other thing to think about with jurassic park is that, while it did have this kind of like thing about the dinosaurs and like a lot of, there's a lot of science-y lingo discussion going on, like the story itself is very self-contained. It's like we're at a park. The park has gone wrong. It's a horror movie it's a slasher horror movie just with a Spielberg sheen to it.
Speaker 1:You know. And then you know Lost World goes. We're going to open the sandbox, we're going to talk about like engine coming in and all these politics and stuff. And then they kind of went the opposite way with jurassic park three, where we're like no, we're gonna lead into the horror adventure of it all yeah, I.
Speaker 2:I think that lost world did maintain some of the horror aspects, because I mean they kill a child within the first 10 minutes, which is wild.
Speaker 1:That does not happen, which is camilla bella it is if anybody recognizes her, she't a huge superstar but she kind of was like one of the it girls of the late to early 2000s and stuff. Some people will remember her as a girl from practical magic, 10,000 BC push later on. Uh, she was also in a horror movie called when a stranger stranger calls which terrified me like none other when I watched it.
Speaker 1:And then, uh, she was also in A Little Princess, which came out prior to this, which is also what actress I need to find her name, vanessa Chester, who plays Malcolm's daughter. She was in that movie and that's actually where Spielberg saw her Interesting On the red carpet. I guess afterwards was like I want to put you in one of my movies.
Speaker 2:That's cool, so that's pretty sweet. Yeah, that's neat.
Speaker 1:But yeah, very intense opening of a movie. It wasn't like we saw it on screen, but again, it's the. It's the illusion of the mind, like we're painting the scene in our heads of, like this girl's been torn apart and she's not the only one to be eaten by the copies in the movie either.
Speaker 1:Surprise, forgot about Peter Stormar being in this movie, but he gets the worst end of it. Would you rather here's a great question Would you rather be eaten by copies like that, where thousands of little things are tearing you to pieces? Or do you just want to go the way that poor Eddie did, where it's just quick and you're torn in two and it's done?
Speaker 2:I would imagine the latter to the former, yeah, the latter for sure, the idea of being pulled apart, because that would be a really slow death, that would not be a quick one because their mouths are not that big so so I mean, they're just taking chunks out.
Speaker 1:It takes a lot of them to like kill him off eventually.
Speaker 2:No, just hit it over, or you know yeah, bitten in half by that one guy in the first stage and everyone while you're doing it.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I guess you get a bit more dignified. Yeah, probably the the latter if I had to choose, but yeah and speaking so.
Speaker 1:So, speaking of deaths, not to get off too far on a tangent, we'll come back around, but so we've got somebody that gets torn in half. We got girl and guy that get you in the life of the copies. The velociraptors, raptors, do their thing. The t-rex is doing their thing with multiple people. Yeah, um, but on the boat, and maybe I missed it this time around. But like, the boat shows up at the end of the movie, yes, and it's, it's empty. All the people are dead. Yes, did I miss a part? Is it that the velociraptors got on the boat or did the t? Maybe?
Speaker 3:t-rex get loose. So that is one of the biggest flaws in movie history. And what happened is you can actually find the scene in the dvd, um extras, um, if you buy it. So they were running out of time, spielberg, and spielberg was actually having a nightmare with this film, and there is a scene that they cut out on the cutting room floor where the velociraptors, while docking the islands, had killed the crew and it just it left, and they were actually on board as well, which is why there was fresh blood on there and apparently a few velociraptors ran into la, but you never saw that the focus had to be on the t-rex was just like the focus is on the t-rex because the velociraptor in la.
Speaker 3:There's just too many things to do. We need something big and focus on one thing. And that was very messy and he admitted that when, um, he did the commentary as well and it's quite a big flaw and it does get mentioned a lot when people talk about the second movie, um. But I think you just got to take it for head value, just wait for the t-rex to come and just realize that something is going to go wrong. But yeah, it's a big flaw.
Speaker 1:I do agree, um because I feel like I don't know if there was a line that was made up to fix it or anything, but because I was in there going like did the velociraptors like chow down and then just jump ship, or something. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean pirates now exactly, and it's not technically a flaw, I mean, it's sort of left up to the imagination, which is what Spielberg could only do, because they had to leave that scene out, because it was just going on too long and long. They wanted to get to the scene at the end, so it was because there was time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I didn't, don't mean to interrupt you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's so much going on and in the and I guess spielberg added it like the the whole san diego scene at the end, which I I liked that I thought it was fun, like.
Speaker 3:I think that's just a natural conclusion is to finally get the dinosaurs on mainland, and I had I had a lot of fun with the t-rex wandering around and I think that's a very good choice, because it took the new franchise a whole three movies to actually get to that part, and spielberg did it in two movies, and that's again why I defend the second movie, because he actually found a story capable of getting there instead of building up, and the third one was awful. Dominion was awful and it didn't work, and less is more. You only got 10 minutes and net over T-Rex.
Speaker 3:So let's see what you can do with that. And it was a good scene. I mean, yeah, you kind of want more, but I mean it got to its point and it was good enough. But I think and that's what Spielberg is so good at Like with Jaws you only see the shark a handful of times.
Speaker 1:The T-Rex, you don't really see.
Speaker 3:You don't even see the, and I love that.
Speaker 1:I love that that was something one of the writers. He said that he had a fan note posted while he was writing the script because, like, a fan wrote a letter saying like complaining that they didn't see dinosaurs for like an hour. They're like please hurry up and get the dinosaurs in the movie what that's.
Speaker 2:I agree with Ash on that.
Speaker 3:No, I think this is where this is where Ali's correct, correct jurassic park is the better story, the better film, the best film for, like I'd say, cinephiles, um, but if you do, and for the new gen, especially like the generation, I'm talking anyone born past 1997, they will probably prefer the lost world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100, unfortunately though, and just just to cut it back, I could tell ali wanted to perk up about something about san diego. Now, this is your beloved san diego, ali. I know well and okay, again irrational totally.
Speaker 2:I and and for the record, I Allie wanted to perk up about something about San Diego. Now, this is your beloved San Diego, allie. I know Well and okay, again, irrational. Totally, and for the record, I don't think the lost world, the lost world, is no longer my least favorite of the Jurassic series. Dominion has taken that dishonor. But yeah, it's, I don't know there's. I also get frustrated. Again, irrational. I also get frustrated when they portray places and it's just not portrayed correctly if that makes sense, so like, example, independence Day in the beginning, when they're going to, when the aliens first arrive.
Speaker 2:they're going to different places in the world to show where it's at. They go to my hometown and I say that in quotes Imperial Valley, except everybody lives in trailers and they don't have any running water. And it's just this very old school view of where I'm from, because that is how a lot of people view where I'm from. So it's stuff like that where I'm like that's not how the valley is at all. And so San Diego, I don't know man, it just wasn't quite up to.
Speaker 1:It wasn't a proper portrayal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't know I. Yeah, that is good that you're defending that. I like that because that is a honorable thing to, because I would be annoyed if someone took basin stoke, for instance. God forbid if everyone did a film here and get it wrong.
Speaker 2:Because, yeah yeah, I just yeah. And then also it kind of kind of stabbed me in the heart because they mentioned the san diego chargers and I was like dang it.
Speaker 1:I was going to say did you feel a little sting when you brought that up?
Speaker 2:I wrote it down. I wrote down RIP the San Diego Chargers.
Speaker 3:I have no argument for that.
Speaker 2:Well, it's just. It was more of an observation than it is a criticism because, to give a back story, if you don't watch football, the San Diego Chargers were literally I'm not going to call them what they are now, but they were literally in san diego for like since, like 1955, and then they moved to la and it's just really annoying and anyway I'm a fan of them again, but just the fact that it really did take, take like six or seven years anyways well, I think, yeah, that's a really good point, though, ali, like another great example I thought of was when they filmed, uh, moon knight and they were
Speaker 1:portray Egypt and the director, who's from Egypt himself, was very much like, went out of his way to be like no, egypt is a bustling, like city space. It's not what people are constant. It's not like 1917, where it's just the pyramids and a lot of third world country kind of stuff going on. Like he was like I want to represent proper Egypt. So I mean we're learning now, especially like you can't just insert you know canadian city, toronto, because it's cheap to film you know, like ala jason takes manhattan.
Speaker 3:I mean this is a very good point actually, because yeah, okay, you get to hoodwink 99 of the people who don't live there and won't notice it. Fair enough, and that's how they'll look at it. But that one percent will know about it and that one percent will start to, you know, squeeze and tell people about it. And I watched A Quiet Place the new one recently at the cinemas and it's all based in New York, right? So if you've seen the trailer, you know it's in New York. However, it's not in New York and they do such a good job of hiding it and it's so blatant it's shot in England and you can tell it's shot in england. But and you can, and they do it very you know how they shoot in a dark so they don't have to do too much blood sequences. It's the same thing yeah the movie's fantastic.
Speaker 3:By the way, I think it's a great movie but, like alley, the location ruined it for me. Like the location of that, I knew it wasn't new york. I knew they got some establishing shots at the top of the buildings that was probably new york with a helicopter, but when they were on the ground they weren't in new york okay, that's interesting yeah, that ruined it for me, but it's a great film if you haven't seen it, by the way for sure, for sure.
Speaker 1:Now, the other note I will say really quickly we've been on this tangent is that I would also pay money to watch a like a sidequel or something of lost world. Where were the people on the boat? And the velociraptors jump on and it's like that. It's kind of like voyeur last voyage of the demeter, where we're just finding out what happened to all the people on the boat yeah and maybe that's the thing is they're sitting there going like, look, we're heading to san diego if these velociraptors get out, we're all screwed.
Speaker 1:So, like we gotta, we gotta do something.
Speaker 2:The t-rex they can handle oh, yeah, the velociraptors, but they're too smart that would be interesting.
Speaker 3:That's a great idea, and they could use the hunter as well on the boat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so wait so yeah, speaking of roland, I think roland timbo is one of my favorite characters in the franchise, like by a long shot a good character, isn't he? And peter possibly does such a good job okay, yeah um, but and it's, it's.
Speaker 1:He's just like the great white hunter is what spielberg kind of described him as, because he wanted someone with great presence and that's why they got pete to do it. Uh, and yeah, I just think he, like he does, it's such an interesting character to insert into the world because it's like all he's. He's even straight up says he's like I'm not about the money, I just want a chance to hunt the tyrannosaurus rex, like it's the last you and that tells you everything you need to know about this guy's like he's hunted everything yeah and I think that's like really good writing.
Speaker 3:Like, with good writing, you can tell everything about a character, and I think steven spielberg said that was one of his favorite actors as well. And I think, just go on the argument here. I think the lost world offers a lot of fantastic supporting characters, like the late pete postle's weight, julianne moore, vince vaughn you know all stars that later become massive in the next decade and what, yeah, what, and what pete possum does? He's, I think roger ebert actually said he was the only good thing about that film, um, which is really annoying, but you know somewhat, true, but you know you got jeff. You know jeff brings the one line as a sarcastic. You know he anchors into the absurdity of the film, kind of like sam neill does. But um, he is the big white hunter and he does take the lead and he does lead the charge. You've got like five main characters here and even you know when peter storman's, like you know, squaring up, he's not squaring up with vince vaughn, he's squaring up. He's not squaring up with jeff goldblum, sorry, he's squaring up with vince vaughn.
Speaker 3:And vince vaughn is the one that saves um kelly, his daughter, from the water pool, not jeff goldblum yes, and this is what I like about the lost world, this experimental main protagonist because jeff goldblum is us, he's the audience, he's not being a hero, he's watching everything. He there's not one hint of him being actually quite heroic in this movie. He's kind of like he's just there, everything heroic that happens vince vaughn does, or pete postlethwaite does, or someone else does that's a really good point.
Speaker 3:That is a really good point decided to do that, whereas sam neill is the hero in the first movie and I like the experimentation in the lost world because actually that actually becomes relevant in the 2010 decades where you have a main character, but the main character is actually the supporting character who does all the legwork, and you just have the brad pitt character in glorious bastards, whereas everyone else is doing a heavy lifting so it's a static character is often what's referred to as yeah, so it's.
Speaker 1:it's interesting that he went with that choice because, because you can, there's plenty of movies that I've thought of as well. Like, like public enemies is when I think of a lot where christian bale's character, who's the hunting down johnny depp's criminal, is a lot of his action and stuff is given to these other characters that really don't have a lot of screen time. But michael mann was more about being accurate, I guess, than he was about telling a proper story, because there's so many moments where, like he defends, uh, johnny depp's girlfriend, who and punt, and the friend punches the guy who's intimidating her or something, and I'm like that would have been so much better if he did that. Or like at the end, when he's interviewing her and saying, giving her the news that johnny depp's dead spoiler, sorry, but you know it's public enemies, what do you think was going to happen? But like he's christian bill is the one that delivers the news.
Speaker 1:So I do think it's interesting that Spielberg chose to let him be more the observer and just more kind of trying to survive. Because, you're right, I'm trying to think of even a moment where he makes a major decision, but most of the time it's him agreeing with Julianne Moore, sarah Harding we got to get the baby T-Rex to lure him off of San Diego or it's like Vince Vaughn's Nick character, like helping sabotage all the stuff the engine's trying to do once they catch the dinosaurs so that's, and he literally is the one that saves Kelly and Sarah from the T-Rex and the water, and then he just runs in after and he goes, thank you, and I love that and that is clever, very ahead of thinking Steven Spielberg direction.
Speaker 3:Love it ahead of his time. And he did it in this movie, not the first movie, this movie.
Speaker 1:I will argue a little bit, I'll push it back a little bit against that. I do think that Goldblum's character had an arc in the first movie. In this one I don't know what that arc 100% is. Like I said, it's him balancing his old past of being a womanizer star scientist to be trying to be like family man now. But I do think he needed a moment of action, of heroism, whether like just it doesn't. He doesn't have to solve all the problems. We don't need to marry, sue him or whatever, but we need to like. He needed a moment to kind of show like his character going through something or learning something, or at least just being heroic. I think yeah, that's just my personal take, but I get what, where you're coming from, where it's like it's interesting to let, because there are plenty of movies where the main character is the only one that gets to do anything.
Speaker 3:Yes, the John Cena of movies it's just like he has to be the one that goes over.
Speaker 1:Nobody else can look good and so you're just like, well, okay. So I do appreciate that, but I could have helped alleviate some of those concerns that people had for sure.
Speaker 3:Then, equally, sam Neill does nothing in the first movie. He just protects the children. But I think that's the thing.
Speaker 1:If he's not there, he doesn't help the kids, they don't get out of the car, they don't climb over everything. There is a purpose in terms of the adventure. He's the warning. He's like the horror version of the Harbinger. He's just like we gotta get off the island, the bad things are coming.
Speaker 3:and then, yeah, he's kind of long through the road say that again. He's like the guy you trust to follow, and that's it you're not expecting him to punch someone in the face or get in a fight or, you know, do something like that. I mean, I guess sam neill with a flare. I think that's very heroic yeah, I think, yeah, he take, yeah, that moment there was hilarious, like loved it, absolutely one of my favorite scenes so good grabs a flare, moves and then, malcolm, you know, just runs, just runs away.
Speaker 3:Yes, both contribute into it. But, sam neill, you both characters, one's soft and focused, the other one's like right, jittery, talks a lot, you know, and that's the sort of moment where the character becomes someone else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure yeah, yeah, um no, I, I will say there. So this I don't mean to like shift or anything but one thing that I thought was interesting. So, as my friends all know, I'm a huge fan of john williams who scored who scored jurassic park. Well, while I was watching, I was like this sounds like like john williams because he has a very distinct style, but I wasn't recognizing anything from the first movie and I was like did he?
Speaker 2:was he the one that scored this? And I looked it up and I thought it was really interesting that he used different motifs and I don't believe he really yeah, he used complete, which is very unusual for sequels especially that is something I didn't really notice the music in this one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no because, yeah, well, I, I will, I love, I love johnny w, but um I do feel like jurassic park is the better one because it's just the score is so much, I don't know, it's just so much grander. However, in the lost world, it it felt I don't know.
Speaker 2:I don't know how it made me feel, if I'm being honest, but yeah, but that was one thing that really confused me, but I thought it was a really interesting artistic touch. That um is pretty ballsy for like, like lack of a better term. Yeah, yeah, no, I completely agree.
Speaker 3:I completely agree with what ali said. I think they had a conversation. John williams and steven spielberg, um, and john williams did it. It's like, well, we can't replicate the first movie because that's just so iconic. Um, but what they did was, because it's in the jungle, they added bongo drums to the score and then that sort of became the sort of main base of the score. But they try to keep out the. You know, the do do like.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You had it at the opening, the helicopter scene and at the end, and I think you get it when you have Richard Attenborough speak at the end, but that's it. But the movie is one action fest.
Speaker 1:You don't really slow down after they, you know, while they're in there that's true, right, yeah, and it does a pretty good job. And then Injun arrives, and then the herding of the dinosaurs. Everything just goes right after. Because in my mind I was like I think it takes them a while to get there and I was like, no, it's only 30 minutes. Yeah, it's not very long Act, one is done.
Speaker 3:And we're deep into that, and you don't move away from that island. You stay in there until you get to LA.
Speaker 1:You brought up John Hammond, one thing that I movies, and seems like 90s movies did this so well. I missed when movies could do like tv show stuff or new stuff accurately like. Now you watch a movie and like it's clearly like, yes, it's all the stuff that you're watching on the show in this movie and others is like yes, it's pre-recorded, it's made for this movie but it felt like it was you were watching cnn or watching oh yeah something of that nature.
Speaker 1:Nowadays it's like, I don't know. I don't know if it's a branding thing where they're like well, we don't want to pay for that right or whatever, but it's always like, clearly like this is not. But it doesn't even look like a tv we're watching and maybe that's just the digital age shifting and we're going from like the box tube tvs to this now. But just one thing I noticed I was like I miss when tv looked like tv and movies that's fair no, I think that's a good point.
Speaker 3:To be fair, I mean, yeah, we go about the it's the generation thing as well, I mean lost world sort of a thing. When I'll go back to what I said earlier, like the first time I watched it was on television, um, and you have that scene at the end where richard hanman's talking on the television about, you know, the lost world and it looks authentic, it looks, you know, it's crispy, it's like watching gilmore girls and you can tell I just love, I just love how it's shot, because it's old, not old, but it's just right.
Speaker 3:And then you watch the new episodes that they shot recently and I'm like I don't like it because it's shot recently. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2:that's fair. Yeah, I know, exactly what you mean. It's part of the whole I think it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's part of the the conversation corey and I've had a lot of time about sequels that are delayed.
Speaker 3:There's a reason we had.
Speaker 1:Home Alone 1 and 2 and then the rest or whatever, adam's Family 1 and 2, and they had stuff that came out too late. What people don't consider is the team that made those movies is not there anymore and time has shifted. So are we now in the digital era, are we now shifting from film and stuff, and so it's not going to look. Your nostalgia, your red tinted glasses and stuff are not going to feel the same way you do because it wasn't made in that same time and frame yeah that's the thing, though.
Speaker 3:I mean, yeah, top gun got it right from the 80s, and that's probably just one example. I mean it's very hard to keep that you've got how, even if you have the right producers, the right movie star. I mean, I watched beverly hills cop, and that that didn't actually do that well to hold the nostalgia. It was actually. I didn't like it. It was great to see axel foley back, but it was, it was bad. But then when I watched Maverick, it worked. It held on to that and I don't I don't know why it wasn't due to the quality of how it shot. It was more well. I felt the story, I was close to it. So again, I don't know what you know, some films resonate with you and some don't.
Speaker 1:I think Maverick doesn't adhere as much to like the nostalgia, the legacy sequel, pat Pratt Falls, you know where. It's like we have to have this character and like, yes, iceman's in there, it's, it's about Maverick himself and stuff, but it's not, it's not going out of its way to be like we gotta get a shot of this or hey, remember that scene, we gotta do that again or anything of that nature. I feel like it was more about we're pushing forward filmmaking because, like the way they shot the jet fighter sequences and stuff, it wasn't afraid to like just move forward yeah, I agree I think yeah, sorry, go ahead sorry oh, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2:I think that was one thing I also was a little frustrated with when re-watching the lost world is. There was a lot of callbacks and a lot of repeated quotes from the first one that I noticed um, I can't think of any right now like as an example.
Speaker 1:I thought it was like subtle enough was when uh ian malcolm was referenced like does anybody, did anybody bring like lamb's blood or something, or something like that that was fine, but there were a couple where I don't know there was.
Speaker 2:There were just a couple of them where I was like, okay, we don't, we get it. We, this is the sequel.
Speaker 1:I understand, but um, yeah, I just I felt like there were a lot of callbacks to the first one one thing I will notice is to speak on legacy sequels as well, and that's maybe it's just because lost world didn't do as well as you know the original movie or anything. It's like I'm surprised that in the jurassic world movies that they didn't bring back or try to bring back the vince vaughn and julianne moore type characters and stuff like yeah, I don't even know, uh, what's her name? The, the daughter? Uh, vanessa chester's character, kelly, doesn't he? I don't think she even makes an appearance in the sequels at all.
Speaker 3:I could be completely wrong, but it's not noteworthy, at least, no, I don't think so. They're completely new characters.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and like when you've built such a world with, like the Engine Corporation and stuff, like it's weird that they didn't think like hey, let's bring back a Nick Van Owen, let's bring back a Sarah Harding, and just implement. And I think that's the same problem Star Wars and Jurassic World had, which was like no, it's the main three, they're holy, they're sanctimonious, we cannot adjust from that. It's against the rules, kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that's where Jurassic World Dominion especially failed was bringing the original three back and trying to hook on to that nostalgia of like eh, you recognize these characters, except the writers completely lost who those characters were and like there's literally I almost walked out of the theater. I legitimately was, so I was so angry when I watched it.
Speaker 1:I was stuck in a plane so I just was like I'm just going to ride this baby out.
Speaker 2:There's literally one point where Sam Neill is asking Laura Dern, oh, I didn't or talking with her about keeping in touch with Malcolm, and she says yeah he slid into my dms and I'm just, and that that was the moment I was like I might actually have to walk out of the theater. It was just. It was so unlike Dr Sattler, it was so like who's I don't know, it was just. That was one of the biggest failures, in my opinion.
Speaker 3:I know that we have friends who really really like that movie and I'm sorry you do yes they will not be named on the recording yeah, I don't know who you are, but oh, my word, it is bad. Like yeah, the dialogue was awful and you're you're dragging og characters through the mud with this dialogue, with this comedy sketch, where they're like trying to break the locust out, and I was watching just these two characters like what have you done to these two characters like you've?
Speaker 3:you've put them to shame and then, yeah, I was like what this is the thing with, like making sequels and trying to. They're making films for the wrong reasons and I think they're doing it right now. To answer your earlier question, nick, I think it's good that they left nick van owen out, because again, that would be another character they have the opportunity to drag through the mud. I'm glad they should have rather done it for him than Sam Neill.
Speaker 3:I mean Sam Neill, poor guy. First movie, yes, but then the third movie and then Dominion, oh my god we're also talking about.
Speaker 1:The problem with legacy sequels is that you're talking about movies that are being made now and like in the past 10 years, and these actors have aged 30 years, yeah, and so like they can't, like the believability of them do it, running from the dinosaurs and stuff in their late 60s and early 70s just doesn't make sense yeah absolutely they I.
Speaker 1:It's the same thing with star wars, ghost busters and all of them. It's like I'm glad to see these actors, yeah, but I would rather them play supporting roles and we get you know more activity from the new players in the story exactly exactly, and this is the thing this is.
Speaker 3:This is one of the. This is the big reason why everyone hated indiana jones 4. It was one of the first ever legacy sequels to come into our hands and eyes and people didn't know what to do, and it was because it looked too new. It was way too new. You didn't have that rustic quality it had in 1990.
Speaker 1:The last one, that was leaning on the cgi yeah automatically you're gonna hate it.
Speaker 3:Of course you are, but it's just, it's like watching gilmore girls now and watching, you know, alexa bedell in, you know, on her iphone. It's just, you can't know, I can't, I can't see that it doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1:I love that we're using gilmore girls as a. You guys are bonding on it.
Speaker 2:I was about to say ash, I, I, I'm with you there, I'm with you there because gilmore girls. That's one of my I. I've re-watched that series so many times, but I think I've seen the, the newer ones that came out maybe once or twice, and it just yeah I totally understand what you're talking about you need to watch.
Speaker 1:You need to watch gilmore. Well, my sisters and mom watch gilmore girls a lot, so I watched, I watched, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 2:So I'm aware I watched a decent amount.
Speaker 1:I get the vibes you're talking about.
Speaker 3:You're a fan. It's really good. I can just watch that all the time, my wife loves it, absolutely loves it.
Speaker 1:One thing I just wanted to touch on before we start to wrap up is that one thing I noted watching the Lost World was that Spielberg's still in his bag. He is a fan of and he's a proponent and does it so well. The multi-shot kind of thing where it's like it's a, it's not a, it's he'll cut away and stuff. It's not like a, you know, a one long take kind of thing. But he's going from a frame to a frame so it'll be a close-up on him.
Speaker 1:Malcolm that pulls out to the rest of the group on the boat on their way in and the captain's saying I don't want to go any closer, I won't be back for two hours. You can call me, but I'm not going to stay around here, kind of thing. And or it's just you know a tilt up from dinosaur foot to him looking screaming for sarah and then painting over and we see like down the row. It's all very meticulously planned out. So even if it wasn't quote-unquote spielberg firing on all cylinders, he was still very much like on top of his game.
Speaker 2:I feel like well, and he also had a lot going on in the 90s he had banger after banger. I mean yeah yeah, so it makes sense that he was like you know, I'm gonna you know but yeah in terms of quality.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think in terms of the filmmaking itself, like I don't think he, I don't think he was like going through the motions by any means, because I'm sitting there like this is all meticulously oh absolutely like there's so much timing going on, like it's so well put together and stuff. I just think it just didn't hit the same as the first one.
Speaker 2:I will also say I know we're going to wrap up, but just another thing that did kind of well, maybe not frustrate me, but interest me about the Lost World when I was rewatching it last night, was the CGI wasn't, as I felt like the CGI wasn't as good as Jurassic Park and maybe that's just me looking too into it, because I didn't go through most of my notes, because I realized, like through the movie, that I was doing the CinemaSins thing and I was like I don't want to tear this apart and be like, well, that doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1:Why would they?
Speaker 2:do that. Yeah, that doesn't make any sense, but, like Jurassic Park, literally it's about extracting dino DNA from mosquitoes that were in it. You know, like you have to, yeah, I mean it doesn't make any sense, but um, yeah, but that was one thing that that I did notice. Um, I don't know, maybe maybe that's just me looking too into it I think, I think I can answer that question for you.
Speaker 3:I actually agree with you. Uh, jurassic park the reason the first movie was so good was because you don't get many action sequences, and every action sequence you get is very, very done, done, it's done, it's hidden, you don't see it, that's fair.
Speaker 3:Like the T-Rex sequence with the kids and Grant. That's the big moment, that's the big scene. And then the scene at the end and that had to be done with animatronics and special effects and they did that and it still holds up today, better than stuff in the MCU. It's so good With. It's so good. With the second movie they had 50 more dinosaurs on show because it was the sequel. They had to go bigger. But if we're taking the screen rules, they had to go bigger, they had to go bolder, they had to put more dinosaurs.
Speaker 3:At some point you're going to see a floor and it was, and it was all in daylight, that massive safari scene with you know, yeah, you're going to see a mistake somewhere. I actually agree with you. The cgi wasn't great, but there was more. There was probability wise. You're going to find something for sure, because dinosaurs were on screen at least every five seconds, whereas Jurassic Park you don't even get. You don't even get to see it and they even make a joke of it because in the tour there's like a no show and you know you're there with them. On the tour You're like, yeah, when you see the t-rex an hour and 20 minutes in, everyone in the audience is like whoa that is so good, and it still is, and this movie yeah, you see it in like 10, 5, you know 30 minutes, you see it all and you see it for the next hour and a half.
Speaker 1:I do think they save some room for the t-rex is like you've got. I love that roland's like running along. He's trying to describe like get, get the, get the, the friar tuck get him. Elvis, elvis but, but I did.
Speaker 2:I could tell they were very much like okay, we can introduce all these other dinosaurs all we want to, but like we still gotta, we still gotta make t-rex a big deal yeah, and even the velociraptors like well, and I I will say, though I did think that when they were driving the jeeps around the dinos, I did think that was really cool because there's there's a Jurassic Evolution which I really enjoy playing, and it's basically like rollers. Basically, you're creating your own dinosaur park and so you have to have. You know, your dinosaurs get sick and stuff, and so you actually can drive your Jeep into their enclosures and stuff, and it reminded me a lot of it.
Speaker 3:And I was like this is sick.
Speaker 2:I liked that and also the practical effects. I thought, which I mean practical effects, are always going to Trump, cgi, but the the practical. The stegosauruses were sick. I also love that they included stegosauruses.
Speaker 3:I think they're cool. It sounds like Allie likes the lost world.
Speaker 1:What is your? What is your favorite dinosaur? Allie do.
Speaker 2:Man oh good question. I feel like it's it's I really like velociraptors. I think now I'm to be fair. I like the velociraptors that are in the movie and not the actual velociraptors that have feathers and stuff no offense, turns out, they're smaller. Yeah, no, I like the ones in the movie, but I also really love lizards and snakes and stuff like that, and so yeah probably velociraptors or T-Rexes.
Speaker 3:I just think they're all on the ground and you had. They did it well in the second movie with the sea creatures. That was good, but they could have really done something. And they did it with the third movie with sam neill, dresser park, three of the pterodactyls, the birdcage sequence oh yeah, they really have done like uh no, a 747 flying and you see a pterodactyl, something, you know something to reference a pterodactyl in a third movie.
Speaker 3:Instead, it was just a establishing shot of it flying, because they are dangerous and they have something else, they offer something else and uh, yeah, I think they think they should have done something more of that yeah, well, jurassic world, didn't it have the well they had a giant like domed cage thing them to live in.
Speaker 1:And then they got loose and there's a terrifying yeah the assistant who dies this horrible death.
Speaker 2:But no, I will say that is one thing I did, like the first Jurassic World, and I will say that I do think with pterodactyls it showed how terrifying they are.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I know, it's the beaks.
Speaker 1:It's the beaks yeah it's the beaks of them. My question is like they're talking about we're keeping them on the island, we're trying to. I'm like then why do you have flying?
Speaker 3:dinosaurs. You can't control the flying dinosaurs. They're going to leave the island, they did.
Speaker 1:And number three. Even at the end of number three, I'm like that's a whole other problem. Yeah, now we have a whole. They fly now which, which is?
Speaker 3:which is one of the charlie hansen film coming out now.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, yeah I know, ali I, I know I'll never forgive myself for referencing that, that movie, that doesn't exist.
Speaker 2:So sorry for honking into the mic, that is a, that is kind of a fun like.
Speaker 1:If, like you're talking about, like, there could have been a fun sequence like in the original movies, where they're trying to run out the open and the pterodactyls are just hunting yeah like you could have. You could have swapped out the raptors for that even, and they're just swooping in grabbing people and stuff.
Speaker 2:Or the Gallimimus, I mean that whole scene, when they're running with the Gallimimus, and then the T-Rex comes out and attacks them Instead of doing that you could have had pterodactyls for that I mean the pterodactyls, are pretty terrifying in number three, like the whole sequence where they're chasing them.
Speaker 3:I was just going to Like the birdcage scene when they come out into the mist. That is a horrifying scene. Yeah, it's terrifying, he just walks up and you're like, oh, my God, and they're massive, yeah. It was like, oh my God, it's a birdcage. I'm like what? And then that gave me shivers. That was probably the only part of the movie where I was like, oh my God.
Speaker 2:What's that in there? I'm not going to try and defend that's totally fair.
Speaker 1:I love that the trope keeps going through all these movies. They're like we have to make okay, we have the T-Rex, but how do we raise the stakes? And they're like well, the Spinosaurus is pretty big and then they're like what?
Speaker 2:if we did a fusion of like this one and that and they kept doing it and you're just like maybe we just have dinosaurs Outside of Jurassic World movies or Jurassic Park movies.
Speaker 1:I think the only time I've been terrified of a dinosaur or thought it was accurately pretty well done was, weirdly, the Disney dinosaur movie. I don't think the dinosaur movie itself is good, but the Carnotaurus the horned T-Rex, basically like terrifying.
Speaker 2:I remember, I forget where it was, where you could get the toys, where it was the hand puppets, but I vividly remember it probably was Burger King.
Speaker 1:now that I think about it, but there's a dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom in Orlando and I remember Disney on their TV show selling it to everybody and we got on the ride. I was like, oh God, that Carnotaurus is at the end it just pops out, it's the most terrified. I've ever been on a ride.
Speaker 3:Just because you're anticipating it and the animatronics are so good, but yeah, that's pretty terrifying.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is for sure, okay, well, we're, we're nearing the end here, so just final, final thoughts. And, ali, I'll start with you, since ash started previously. So, having having discussed, having re-watched it recently with more more modern, aged thing, you're, you're a little older, a little wiser. You just turned, just turned, just had a birthday. I did just have a birthday.
Speaker 2:I know you made me re-watch the lost world on my birthday.
Speaker 2:I'm just kidding happy birthday thank you thanks, um, no see, and this is this is why I enjoy having these types of conversations, because I don't as I've previously stated on this podcast, I don't pick up on stuff. I, I, I'm very I like having discussions with people where they bring up, like I never thought about malcolm, the reason there's, the reason why he's different is because he was traumatized and had very, you know, several, nearly, you know, near death experiences, and so that makes sense, because that's always been a huge issue for me, and so that's why I enjoy these types of things is that I hear from different perspectives and I, it's, it's. I get to think, okay, you know what, actually, that does make sense. And maybe I am being too harsh and you know, even though I, I, even though it's not my favorite, um, I do have a better appreciation.
Speaker 2:Appreciation for it, um, because there are cool moments in it. Like, I'm not going to say the whole movie, I, I dislike the whole movie. There are really cool moments in it. There were a lot of really cool shots, um, there's one near the end that I thought was really interesting. Um, yeah, and I, just, I might give it a three Okay.
Speaker 3:I might give it a three out of five.
Speaker 1:I'm proud of you, thank you.
Speaker 3:This is a big moment. For any of you that are listening, this is a very big moment for me. Amazing.
Speaker 1:Well, ash, you know.
Speaker 3:With that in mind, like, yeah, what are your thoughts now after discussion, after I feel like you're pretty much where you are, you, you stand, you feel, you feel a little little, uh, justified maybe, or vindicated perhaps I think it's good that, like it's good that ali actually has appreciation and listens, because a lot of people already make their minds up and don't want to entertain a second opinion and that's such a lost art around the world. So it's so like refreshing talking to someone like ali and she's like oh, you know what? No, that's that's a cool point that never happens anymore. And I think with like doesn't gen z and gen alpha like anyone, like no offense to that generation, but it's like this is the fact, this is, you know, my opinion is fact.
Speaker 3:I'm not going to change a little bit of a lost art kind of going and it's like okay, I'm sorry, but you know it is art, it is a movie like what is one? What is good to someone is bad for someone else.
Speaker 1:I'll get I get that, but it's good.
Speaker 3:Like ali said, it's good to have a discussion. This is what I think. What do you think? You know there's a. You know there's all these little things in movies. You know there's a reason why hammond's dressed in white and malcolm's dressed in black, because they're total opposites. You know, there's little things like that, and someone told me that last week. I'm like oh yeah, shit, I didn't even make sense.
Speaker 1:I was like figure of the story. Okay, I'm seeing it, yeah bringing new.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's interesting.
Speaker 3:The more and more you talk to people, the more and more you learn. And you know, yeah, it's not the best. I think Jurassic Park is the better movie, but the Lost World should definitely be. You know, in conversation it's like you know, this is still a Steven Spielberg film. This is still a film based on a book. You know a separate book. You know it should hold its own, like you know, podium, I think, and it does deserve. I think it should deserve a little more credit than it's getting. But it is that film, like Dante's Peak and Volcano, that will just be on TV now and again and you'll see it, oh man, well, it also helps.
Speaker 1:Helps when you have uh three or four sequels that come after that are of varying degrees of success yeah, and quality it makes you kind of go back and go. You know what, maybe lost world wasn't as bad as we kind of thought. Maybe those prequels, maybe george lucas had an idea going there.
Speaker 3:I just can't believe they ended with dominion and oh my god yeah, that was well, they're going again.
Speaker 1:Scarlett johansson's. They can't leave the park. They don't know when to quit. Ash. No one has learned the lesson. What are they going to do now?
Speaker 3:Reopen another park, Like what is the story going to be for them? You?
Speaker 1:know there was a wild thing I read many years ago about some of the ideas pitched for, like a Jurassic World sequel or something where they fused dinosaurs with people. Oh God so you were going to get like like. We were just going to get like some weird like street sharks thing or something coming out of it. That would be horrifying it would be crazy.
Speaker 1:I mean it would be scary, I mean I would be down for crazy stuff, like when you just try to repeat the same things of the past. That's when it just gets boring. But when you're throwing stuff at the wall of like, yeah, give me the the story about the velociraptors on the boat, give me just a movie about that family and it wasn't even part of the Jurassic World sequel where they're camping and the t-rex shows up yeah, and I was like I just want that, give me that well, and I think that's why I enjoy to an extent, because obviously it gets much sillier.
Speaker 2:But I think that's why I enjoy the newer Godzilla movies is because they, they do get really silly and you know, I think that there's a difference. You know, obviously you can make things super serious, like the first of the American Godzillas in 2014. But then I don't know. I'm all about trying silly new things, but yeah, the Jurassic World trilogy, that was too much man, that was rough.
Speaker 3:I agree, ali, and they've already started badly as well, because the second you start off with a big name, it's going downhill because you're relying on the big name. It's going downhill because you're relying on the big name to carry a movie like, if you think about classics in historic terms, none of them have a a-lister as the main star, like texas chainsaw massacre, no one can name the star, jurassic park jaws. They're not big stars who are the main characters. Reservoir dogden time will not be the main. You know you think of films that are considered classics. They're not a-listers. So when you have an a-lister saying oh scar, scarlett Johansson is going to be in the next film, that's not a good start.
Speaker 1:In my opinion, for sure it's like it should be about the story and then we bring in the characters instead of being like, let's get A-lister after A-lister and put them in the movie. It's frustrating, it is what it is. But I feel like we're at a good point. We've had a good talk today.
Speaker 2:I feel like we appreciate our dinos a little bit more.
Speaker 1:Appreciate everything that's going on and I feel like I feel like you've defended the sequel Well.
Speaker 2:I think so too, I agree.
Speaker 3:Thank you, and no, honestly, it's so good to hear and listen to different opinions about the films and different perspectives. It's been so good to be on here and listen to you know, ali, talk about Jurassic Park, and we share the same opinions with a lot of things actually, so it's great to be, it's good that you're willing to share opinions, and they are valid opinions as well. I agree with them. Like Lost, world does falter on a lot of things, for sure, 100%, but yeah alright.
Speaker 1:Well, I think that's it. That's our episode for today. We hope that you all enjoyed it. Another In Defense of the Sequel be sure to subscribe. Obviously we are on all the social medias. I didn't do that earlier, but I think at this point it's like we're at quantum recast. On every social media you can think of, you can follow us if you're whatever streaming service listen to. Now we're also on the apple, the spotify. We throw them on youtube a lot as well, but be sure to do that. Maybe in the future we'll do a mary sex kill jurassic park and we'll we'll see where everybody stands on that. It might be a little more obvious.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was about to say you might get some surprises.
Speaker 1:You know, if Corey's on there, he might throw some left field.
Speaker 2:He's a Congo man.
Speaker 1:He's not a dino man.
Speaker 2:I want to talk about it.
Speaker 3:That was an awful fit. Well, it was a great book, though it was a great book.
Speaker 1:I can hear Corey screaming from the distance. Corey, I can hear Corey screaming from the distance. Yeah, corey Congo, what are you talking?
Speaker 1:about anyway that's our show. Ali Ash, thank you for hopping on today. We had a great time discussing some movies that we love. But everyone else, thank you for joining us today. We appreciate you listening. Be sure to subscribe. You can follow us now on Patreon and just give us a dollar of your time monthly to support the show. It's just patreoncom backslash quantum recast. Until then, we'll see you guys next time. I say goodnight Allie, Goodnight Allie.