JP3 Toys Not 'Unsavory'
Funny little article from the AP tonight about a Rev. Christopher Rose, who releases a list of 10 "warped" toys each holiday season to warn parents about products that "cause a child to act wrongly." As the author of the article points out, the JP3 toys (which feature biting action and open wounds) are not on the list. Why? "Kids play with dinosaurs," Rose says.

December 20, 2001

LOTR Fails to Beat JP3's Record
This Reuters story is reporting that while "Fellowship of the Rings" did have an impressive opening day yesterday (taking in $18.2 million), it still lost to both "Star Wars: Episode 1" and "JP3" when you compare past Wednesday-opening grosses. You'll remember JP3 made a tidy $19 million on it's first day.

Fly The JP Skies
I thought this is pretty durn neat: 'Allosaurus', the dude you might remember from designing the very cool Dan's JP3 Page T-Shirt, has created a "repaint" of the Boeing 737 model in Microsoft's "Flight Simulator 2002" featuring a Jurassic Park motif. You can download it from Simviation.com right here.

Dan Graduates?
Despite spending countless hours working on this site, my past WC site, and my TLW website, I somehow managed to make it though this thing called "college" in one piece and graduated today -- the picture to the right proves it. I even picked up a girlfriend, some great friends, and a quality journalism education in the process, so if you're considering college in the future, I highly recommend it. Anyway, if you'd like to give me a job, please e-mail me. ;)

December 13, 2001

• Blockbuster Video, in their infinte stupidness, is now scamming their customers (even further) by refusing to rent or sell the widescreen DVD versions of popular new movies, starting apparently with JP3. A petition has been started to let them know what you think about that. The Digital Bits also has more info on how you can express your disapointment. (Thanks Craig)
• DVD Packaging Errors? I received a report from Matt who says he picked up a widescreen version of the JP3 DVD at his local Wal-Mart, but was surprised to find the full screen disc inside! When he exchanged it for another one from the same store, which also said Widescreen on the case, he found it to be full screen as well! Not sure what this means, but I'd certainly like to hear if more people report this happening.... [Update: Apparently this isn't an isolated incident, as dvd.ign.com reported the same problems from a reader earlier this week.]
• Haven't bought the JP3 DVD yet and wondering how long it will take to receive the "Beyond JP" disc after you've sent away for it? Be prepared for an excusiating wait, according to Yvonne: The mail-in rebate form says to allow "10-12 weeks" for shipping. Argh.
• The Digital Bits is offering a contest where you can win the JP3 DVD if you answer the trivia question. It's the second place prize, so you'll actually have to hope you'll win, but not be too lucky as to win first place.
• 'prgy326' reports the JP3 DVD will arrive in Mexico on January 25th.
• Speaking of countries other than US, JP fans down under will certainly disapointed with this next bit: While the DVD is scheduled to arrive in Australia on Jan. 9th, Matt reports it will be for rent only, and contain no special features. Currently there is no set date for a retail release.

JP3 Hasbro Site Open
In the "better late than never" file, Joel reports Hasbro has finally opened their JP3 Toy site at http://jp3.hasbro.com. They've got dino facts and their JP3 toy line to browse, so certainly check it out if you're so inclined.

December 11, 2001

We've never gotten a 2-Disc Special Edition of any of the JP films, like I'm sure many of us have wished. But now available by both buying the JP Trilogy box set or sending away a form found in JP3 DVD is a new disc called "Beyond Jurassic Park", made up entirely of extras. Where as most segments on this DVD were great, there were a few others that were a bit cheesy and seemed to just be thrown in there as a final thought. I'll review each doc from each section of the disc and keep it to the point. After that, I'll say what I thought of the menus and of the disc overall.

JP Section:

• JP EPK (electronic press kit) - While the hour-long doc on the JP DVD is far more insightful and interesting, this is the perfect 5-minute puff piece to cause somebody's mouth water to watch JP again.
• Steven Spielberg Directs JP - This doc offers a cool look at Steven as he directs the movie. It was pretty neat, but there were other docs on this disc that were better.
• T-Rex Attack Anamatics - I've never really cared for watching anamatics, but for special effects buffs, they'll enjoy this. It offers a glimpse at a very important process in creating visual effects. It's a bit humorous to see the beloved T-Rex attack scene in such an early form.
• Hurricane on Kauai - One of the best docs here, it shows a big set back when shooting the movie and it reminded me of how the storm wrecked all the pods in the doc on the TPM DVD.
• Before and After: ILM JP Visual Effects - Now this is better than anamatics. I really found this one interesting: It compares the effects in their early stages and their final stages, a very cool feature.

  TLW Section:

• TLW EPK - This one was far better than the JP EPK and while still not being as good as the hour-long doc on the TLW DVD, it packs a lot of great info into a 14-minute doc.
• Interview With Michael Crichton - This is one of the best features on this disc and every fan of the novels will absolutely love this! It is extremely informative and its great to hear form the man that started it all.
• Before and After ILM TLW Visual Effects - This was just as good the Before and After doc for JP - one of the best docs on the disc.
• Compie Dance Dumber - This was cute, nothing amazing, but cute. You'll enjoy it though.

  JP3 Section:

• Special Effects of JP3 - One of the best docs on the disc. Need I say more?
• Sounds of JP3 - One of the best docs on the disc. Very interesting, it's cool to see where all the dino audio come from.
• Art of JP3 - Once again, one of the best docs on this disc. All Summer 2001 long, I was drawing dinosaurs and I love concept art. I especially loved this doc, its really great to have.
• ILM Press Reel - This was similar to the Before and After docs in the JP and TLW sections and is just as good as those. In fact, it's probably a bit better.
• JP: The Ride - If you've never been on the JP Ride, then you'll love this. It offers a glimpse at what to expect and reminds those who've been on it of the fun time they had.

  The menus were satisfactory, yet aren't as good as the menus on the JP, TLW, and JP3 discs. But the menus were really were more than I expected and each menu conveys the mood and theme of each film in the trilogy very well. Overall, I found the disc very, very cool and every JP fan should have it. The disc isn't perfect, but I'd place it just under the extras disc of The Phantom Menace 2-Disc DVD. JP fans should find this very entertaining. One thing I would have enjoyed, however, was a bit more about the original JP film. But like I said, Universal did a fairly good job on this and it can be treasured as a 2-hour behind-the-scenes archive for JP fans.

Grant's HAT up for Grabs
Don't look now, but the latest item to go up for auction on Ebay is none other than Dr. Grant's hat from JP3 as worn by Neill in the film. Currently the auction is at $222, so if you've got a wad of cash to spend, good luck! Personally, I'd love to see that damn 'spielberg' bidder lose for once. Other interesting JP3 props posted recently include the raptor claw, the rubber cell phone (from the dino poo scene?), and several Tea Leoni outfits. More items from the Premiere Props auction here. (Thanks Nate)

December 9, 2001

Leoni Prego
I love that when you're a big star, you're required to send out a press release when you've conceived. Anyway, Tea Leoni (JP3's Amanda) is the second female JP3 star to get knocked up in recent months -- Laura Dern had her first kid back in September. This will be Leoni and David Duchovny's second child.

Spielberg Slips
The media sure does love reporting on any Spielberg health problems, no matter how minor, seemingly just to reassure us that, yes, our greatest director is still alive. The latest incident involves what seems to be a pretty nasty scooter spill. While now described as "hobbled", Steveo is apparently A-Ok. Too bad he wasn't using a Segway.....

December 7, 2001

Download the JP3 DVD Commercial
Just for old times sake, our friend Yvonne is back with what will most likely be the very last JP3 commercial we'll see on television. This one, as we've heard in the past, hawks the upcoming DVD, talking about "Jurassic sized thrills!" and such. Yvonne has been so kind to capture and encode many other JP3 commercials in the past -- you can see more of her work in the media gallery:

Universal Removes Spino
An update from our man on the inside at Universal Studios Hollywood: According to 'Scififann', the original animatronic spinosaur from JP3 on display near the entrance of the park was removed last month after its summer run in the spot, in preparation for a new, larger "photo spot" near the JP ride. "This one will include the Mercedes-Benz SUV used in TLW, depicting the car as being under attack by the spino," he says.

'Prehistoric Beasts' Review
Not really JP3 released, but Time magazine printed their thoughts on this Sunday's "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts" on the Discovery Channel: "This documentary, about the age of mammals, is a fab, furry follow-up [to 'Walking With Dinosaurs']. The menagerie-Ambulocetus (a "walking whale"), Propalaeotherium (a cat-sized horse), et al. -- is so stunning it's almost a disappointment when live actors turn up to play early humans. But when the giant deer Megaloceros charges and breathtakingly leaps over a hunter, it's like watching the anti-Matrix."

December 6, 2001

'Walking with Prehistoric Beasts' Sponsored by JP3
'Mr. Goodbytes' noticed the upcoming JP3 DVD will be a sponsor of this Sunday's airing of "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts" on the Discovery Channel, the highly anticipated sequel to 1999's "Walking with Dinosaurs". At the Discovery Channel site you can play a "JP3 Mixosaurus" Flash game, where you need to unscamble words like "Spinosaurus" and "Isla Sornia" (yes, "Sornia").

DVD Reviews
Cinescape.com has posted their review of the JP3 DVD, giving the disc a "B+". Similiarly, AICN has posted their look, with the reviewer commenting that the layer switch on the disc comes "down right in the midst of a sentence from Mr. Macy" (I didn't notice, personally). Thanks 'JPJunkee'.

December 4, 2001

I hate those DVD reviews where the reviewer first gives a 10 paragraph rehash of how they liked or did not like the movie that they're reviewing, seemingly ignoring the fact that people reading the review don't care about their damn opinions, they just want to know whether or not to buy the DVD. I mean, if you're thinking of buying the DVD of a movie, it's a given you actually liked the movie, right?

For us die-hard JP fans, there's one more given as well: We're buying this disc, whether it's good or not. Thankfully though, I can safely report that while the JP3 DVD does not contain 100 hours of documentary footage, 500 deleted scenes, commentaries by Steven Spielberg and Joe Johnston, and hidden camera footage of Tea Leoni's dressing room, it is a step up in Jurassic Park DVD's and contains a nice set of special features.

Let's get the bad news out of the way first: As reported here previously, the feature-long commentary track does not include JP3 director Joe Johnston -- which is truly the biggest disappointment on the disc, if you ask me. There are no deleted scenes. There is no screen-to-screenplay feature, nor a look at some of the early storyboards, scripts, or concept art (and we know there must be tons) that was ultimately discarded. And no chats with Executive Producer Steven Spielberg, David Koepp, or any of the screenwriters who worked on the film.

However, what do we get with the JP3 DVD? Well, besides the best summer movie of 2001 in exquisite video and sound quality, the disc also contains a VERY in-depth look into the special effects of the film: how Stan Winston Studios went about creating the spino and raptors, a nice look how ILM does their magic, and interesting discussions on how the JP trilogy keeps raising the bar in terms of special effects and how the technology was at a point with JP3 where the FX people could concentrate on the "performance" of the dinosaurs, instead of simply getting them to work. I especially liked the "A Visit to ILM" section, which breaks down each major special effects scene in the film, talking about "Concepts", "Process", "Muscle Simulation", and "Compositing", each of which has sub-features on "Definition" and "Demonstration". Many of these sections contain interviews with the lead ILM animators working on each shot, animatics, and final shots. It's definitely a very cool feature for CGI fans.

The other major talked-about part of the DVD is the audio commentary, a first for a Jurassic Park film. Here we get a running chat with the infamous Stan Winston, John Rosengrant, the FX supervisor for Stan Winston Studios, Dan Taylor, the JP3 animation director for ILM, and Michael Lanteri, the veteran who has done the physical effects on all three movies. The commentary, while certainly interesting, does concentrate almost exclusively on the effects of the film: what's "real", and what's CGI, for instance, is a running theme through the whole track, the idea here being that even the experts sometimes can't pick out which shot is animatronic (at least, that's what we're supposed to believe, though personally I think the others are just sucking up to Stan). The track was a little disappointing to me: I would have really loved to hear from Joe Johnston on the challenges of working with little to no script, sometimes angry actors, what he was trying to do with certain scenes, and how he views FX coming from a FX background. While we do get 4 SFX guys enormously proud with their work on the film, there's little else going on and all the FX talk gets a little tiring at times (Stan Winston sure knows how to tell long rambling stories, all of which we've heard countless times before). For the most part, however, the track is fun -- the guys seem to enjoy the film, and I really liked how they read lists of people to personally thank during the credits: This has never been done on any DVD commentary that I've heard before, and it really emphasizes how hard people behind the scenes worked on this film.

There are other worth-while segments of the disc as well. "Digging New Dinosaurs" is a too-short look at Jack Horner's successful summer dig that uncovered 5 t-rex skeletons. The "JP3 Archives" has a nice gallery of pictures and pre-production poster art (imagine JP3 called "Breakout"), while the "Making of JP3" is a 22 minute long documentary that boasts interviews with Kathleen "A.I." Kennedy and many of the actors and crew from JP3.

Overall, while the disc will be at least a little disappointing to some JP fans due to the lack of deleted scenes (apparently there weren't any, according to Joe Johnston) or more in-depth conversations about the various problems the production faced, the JP3 DVD is nevertheless a nice addition to our JP collections.

[JP3 News from November 17th through December 3rd]