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Credit: Universal PicturesJurassic Park (1993) is widely considered one of the greatest films of all time. Released in 1993, Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi blockbuster thriller — an adaptation of Michael Crichton’s 1990 best-seller of the same name — brings dinosaurs to life on the big screen for the first time by seamlessly blending ground-breaking computer animation and animatronics.
For many, the film is simply not without flaw (we happen to agree — it is a bona fide masterpiece). However, if we dig a little deeper, there is one major conundrum that has left fans scratching their heads for decades. But now, Jurassic Park‘s biggest blooper finally seems to have been solved by a dedicated Jurassic fan who goes by the name Krenautican.
YouTube content creator Krenautican might just be one of the most well-known names within the Jurassic community. Over the past few years, they’ve been busy meticulously building a fan-made Jurassic Park game based around the original 1993 film.
An open-world experience in which players can explore Isla Nublar in its entirety, “Jurassic Park: Operations,” was shaping up to be the most exciting independent addition to the franchise. Sadly, last year, Krenautican was given a “cease and desist” by Universal Pictures.
This means that Krenautican had two choices: abandon the project altogether or, in order to push forward with its development and eventually allow fans to play it as originally intended, remove all licensing. In other words, delete any trace of Jurassic Park from the game.
Shortly after the bad news, Krenautican shared a video explaining that “Jurassic Park: Operations” would continue in the form of the newly titled “Cretaceous Kingdom.” A rebranded version but with all the same elements as before, bar the Jurassic branding.
Things had gone quiet since that last update, but in a new video they uploaded just a few days ago, Krenautican reassures fans that “Cretaceous Kingdom” is still well underway and to expect more regular updates going forward. But that’s not what the new video is about.
Keeping in line with their meticulous video game world-crafting, courtesy of the game creation system “Dreams” via PlayStation 4, the creator has decided to try and solve the original 1993 film’s biggest mystery: the bizarrely constructed Tyrannosaurus Rex paddock.
In the film, the T-Rex breaks down the electric fence and steps outside from its ground-level jungle enclosure and seamlessly onto the road where Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero), Lex Murphy (Ariana Richards), and Tim Murphy (Joseph Mazzello) sit terrified in two stationary Jungle Cruisers.
It’s undoubtedly one of the most iconic moments in the film and cinema history in general.
However, in a later scene, after the animal has flipped over and partly crushed the jeep with Lex and Tim inside, it is revealed that the enclosure actually has a deep concrete moat separating it from the road, which Alan and Lex end up abseiling down.
But this makes zero sense.
Fans have pondered over this bizarre continuity error for decades.
Some claim that the T-Rex pushes the upturned vehicle farther down the road, where the drop would appear. But when we see Alan and Lex scaling that moat wall, we see nothing but jungle to their left, as opposed to another wall or a hill that’s ground-level with the road.
Now, in the new video, not only do we get more insight as to how Krenautican has been able to build “Cretaceous Kingdom” from the ground up (literally), but, for the purpose of this “experiment,” they also build the T-Rex paddock and the adjacent road from scratch.
Using the T-Rex breakout scenes from Jurassic Park and a production sketch of the dinosaur’s paddock from the filmmakers, Krenautican painstakingly builds everything from the Rex to the two Jungle Cruisers on the other side of the fence.
Watch the video below for the full detailed explanation:
Related: All 7 ‘Jurassic Park’ Movies Including the Latest Film Ranked Worst To Best
So, what’s the answer? According to the detailed reconstruction in the video, the Rex must drag the jeep farther down the road — which we do not see in the film although it may happen off-screen — where it ends up in front of the moat, eventually going over the edge.
An official animatic film for the scene even shows the Rex dragging the jeep.
While this solves the mystery somewhat, it still doesn’t explain why there’s suddenly a huge drop in the Rex’s enclosure — after all, it’s a dinosaur that’s been “spared no expense” so it seems strange that InGen would risk it falling over the edge, especially considering its vision is based on movement.
It remains to be seen whether the repurposed game will include the T-Rex paddock as it appears in this film, as it’s unclear if that design would fall under Universal licensing. However, we are getting an official game titled “Jurassic Park: Survival” — which is probably why Universal asked Krenautican to remove all things Jurassic from their title.
“Jurassic Park: Survival” is also a first-person action-adventure that will allow fans to experience the aftermath of the events of the 1993 film on “a fully realized Isla Nublar.” As such, we may get the opportunity to visit the T-Rex paddock just 24 hours after the dinosaur escaped and finally make sense of the original film’s most bizarre mistake ourselves.
Watch the official trailer for “Jurassic Park: Survival” below:
When Can I Play “Cretaceous Kingdom” and “Jurassic Park: Survival”?
There’s no release date for either game. Given the fact that “Cretaceous Kingdom” is fan-made, it remains to be seen where it will be available to play. “Jurassic Park: Survival” will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and other major platforms like Steam.
Does Krenautican’s new video finally solve the T-Rex paddock mystery for you, or do you have another explanation? Let us know in the comments below!