Re: Velociraptor vs. Utahraptor in Jurassic Park

[Scott <HORTON@BCRSSU.AGR.CA>]

Re: Velociraptor vs Utahraptor in Jurassic Park

>The animal Crichton used in the book was Deinonychus, although he followed
>Greg Paul's synonymization.  Speilberg enlarged it in the movie for dramatic
>reasons.  Utahraptor was not discovered until the movie of JP was several
>months into production, so it was just fortuitous that a giant dromaeosaurid
>was found to justify the big Speilberg raptors.
>Thomas R. HOLTZ

I thought the book distinctly named and described Velociraptor. The movie,
however, doubled the size of the animal. I guess they didn't want to depart
from the name used in the book, though. The scene with Dr. Grant digging in
the desert, I assumed, was a last minute change to reflect the discovery of
Utahraptor. I don't recall this scene in the book. By the way, the book was
MUCH better (and different) than the movie! If you haven't read the book, it's
well worth while even if you've seen the movie.

Rumors of the second movie have appeared on this list. Is there going to be
a second book? Will it come out before the movie? It will be interesting to
see how they create a second adventure, since in the movie the park survived
but in the book the park was bombed into oblivion.