10 Jurassic Park Characters That Were Completely Different In The Books

Steven Spielberg’s 1993 movie Jurassic Park was groundbreaking, with its best characters remaining icons today. That said, the movie and its sequel, The Lost World, were based on books by Michael Crichton, and many of the Jurassic Park and The Lost World book characters are extremely different from their movie counterparts. Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park was more of a science-fiction genre novel, leaning heavily into the chaos theory explanation, but the movie added several major action scenes. The Jurassic Park movie’s most powerful dinosaurs were not always the same as in the books, and many characters changed significantly.

The original Jurassic Park movie has aged surprisingly well, but while the book also holds up for today’s audiences, it is still a product of its time. While the female characters in the book tend to be further from the action, with fewer chances to use the skills they have, the Jurassic Park movie has been hailed as a feminist work. There are also significant differences between The Lost World movie and the book, with the movie having more of an action-driven plot than the book, which focuses more on the dinosaurs and their habitat while altering major characters.

10

Dr. Henry Wu

The Jurassic Park Book Shows Dr. Wu Suffering A Gory Fate

Henry Wu in Jurassic Park.

Dr. Henry Wu is the main genetic researcher and scientific mastermind behind Jurassic Park. His personality is similar in both the book and the movie, which showed him enthusiastically explaining the DNA process to Dr. Alan Grant and the other guests. The central question in both the book and movie was over the ethics of genetic experimentation, and while Dr. Wu continues his life’s work throughout the Jurassic Park movies, his fate is very different in the book.

Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park books serve as a cautionary tale about genetic engineering, and Dr. Wu’s fate is presented as a consequence of his actions. The Jurassic Park book kills Dr. Wu while accompanying Dr. Arnold when he leaves the compound to try and get the power back on. When the Velociraptors break free, they chase Dr. Wu to the roof of the hotel, where they then gut him in the same way Dr. Grant described early in the movie, and they eat him alive.

9

Lex

Movie Lex Is Given A Skill That Saves The Group From Jurassic Park

Lex looking happy after eating jello

One of the biggest character changes that Steven Spielberg made to his Jurassic Park adaptation was Lex. The Lex in Michael Crichton’s book was a frightened eight-year-old child who pronounced “animals” as “aminals” and often behaved in a way that was much younger than her chronological age. She is portrayed as whiny and immature, making her one of the least popular characters in the book, while Spielberg’s adaptation made her one of the most likable and competent characters in the movie.

Lex is around 12 years old in the Jurassic Park movie, and a self-proclaimed hacker who would rather stay at home on her computer than look around the park. Lex is still afraid of the dinosaurs, but the movie shows her growing braver and eventually using her computer skills to take control of Jurassic Park. Lex had a great deal of potential for later plotlines and one of the biggest missed opportunities in the Jurassic Park movies was not bringing her back.

8

Lewis Dodgson

The Book’s Major Villain Is Given A Smaller Role In The Jurassic Park Adaptations

Cameron Thor as Lewis Dodgson in Jurassic Park 1993

The Jurassic Park movies made some of the book’s characters much more prominent, while minimizing others. While Dennis Nedry is the more memorable villain in the movie (partly thanks to his horrific death,) Dodgson is one of the major antagonists in both the Jurassic Park and The Lost World novels. In the movie, Lewis Dodgson plays a small role, tasking Dennis Nedry with retrieving the embryos on behalf of the villainous company BioSyn.

Custom image of Campbell Scott's Dodgson in Jurassic World Dominion and Wayne Knight's Dennis Nedry in  Jurassic park

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Dodgson hired Nedry to steal Jurassic Park’s dino DNA samples, and Nedry was ultimately killed by a dilophosaurus. Dodgson dies the same way in JWD.

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While Lewis Dodgson causes havoc in The Lost World novel by trying to kill Sarah and steal dinosaur eggs, he is completely absent from the movie. Instead, the action centers on the big game hunters and the company InGen rather than BioSyn. Dodgson returns to the Jurassic Park franchise in Jurassic World: Dominion as the CEO of BioSyn, and the movie provides some fan service by giving him a death similar to that of Dennis Nedry.

7

Ian Malcolm

Jurassic Park’s Iconic Chaotician Looked Significantly Different In The Book

Ian Malcolm looking serious in Jurassic Park

Of all the characters, Ian Malcolm had some of the best quotes in Jurassic Park, and his character has become one of the most iconic in the franchise. Ian was the voice of reason throughout Jurassic Park and never failed to find a moment to warn the other characters about the dangers of playing with genetic experimentation. His expertise in chaos theory and eccentric personality made him both memorable and quotable, but his book counterpart is very different.

In the novel, Ian Malcolm is a very different man, even down to his fashion sense. He wears all black in both the movies and books, but Ian resembles a rock star in the movies, while the book version of Ian explains that he only wears black and grey, saying “I believe my life has value, and I don’t want to waste it thinking about clothing.” He is described as a wiry, balding, and unattractive man, while the Jurassic Park movie version of Ian is charismatic and attractive.

6

Tim

Tim Is The Computer Expert And Not Lex In The Jurassic Park Book

Timmy in Jurassic Park

Lex is not the only one of John Hammond’s grandchildren to drastically change between the book and the movie. In Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, Tim is the older sibling, and he is more content to play on his computer, while Lex is the sporty sibling. The movie does not show either sibling as particularly sporty, but it swaps their ages and gives Tim’s major skill to Lex. The change in the siblings is one of the biggest that Spielberg made, and it paid off.

Tim is the dinosaur-obsessed younger sibling in the Jurassic Park movie, and he has read Dr. Alan Grant’s book. Like Lex, Tim’s skills and knowledge come in useful during the movie when he is able to identify the dinosaurs quickly, even when none of the adult dinosaur experts are around. Lex and Tim’s dynamic is much friendlier in the movie, and the two play a large role in the story’s outcome, which is better than the Jurassic Park novel’s controversial ending.

5

Robert Muldoon

Muldoon Had A Very Different Fate

Bob Peck as Muldoon in Jurassic Park

The Jurassic Park movie is less gory than it sounds, and there are only three major deaths that appear on camera. Even then, these are not fully shown. One of these is Robert Muldoon, the brave and militant warden of the park, who immediately tells the guests that the dinosaurs “should all be destroyed” within minutes of meeting them. Muldoon has extensive knowledge of big game hunting, but knows less about Velociraptors, which leads to his death.

Collage of John Hammond in Jurassic Park and the poster for Jurassic World Dominion

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While Muldoon’s “clever girl” line is one of the most iconic in the Jurassic Park movies, his fate, being eaten by Velociraptors, is very different from the novel. Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park contains a twist that reflects the character’s bravery and quick thinking, Muldoon escapes from an entire pack of Velociraptors by hiding in a pipe that was out of reach. Muldoon survives in the Jurassic Park novel, and leaves the island.

4

Dennis Nedry

The Character Was Much More Serious In The Book

Dennis Nedry trying to play with a Dilophosaurus in Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park is generally an action-adventure movie, though there are some moments in the franchise that cross the line into the horror genre. That said, the Jurassic Park movies have their funny moments, and Dennis Nedry is often unintentionally hilarious. With his Hawaiian shirt and “fetch the stick” moment with a Dilophosaurus, he steals the scene every time he is on camera. This writing choice was made for the movie, as Dennis is much more serious in the book.

The Jurassic Park book explores Dennis’s backstory, making him a much more sympathetic character with different motivations. Dennis is blackmailed by Dodgson in the book, rather than being motivated by greed, but both the book and movie versions share a similar fate. Both are killed by a Dilophosaurus, but the Jurassic Park movie changed Dennis’s death slightly, with the movie implying that Dennis died horribly, while the book described his disembowelment in great detail.

3

John Hammond

Jurassic Park’s Creator Was Much More Likable In The Movie

John Hammond cleans a glass in Jurassic Park

The Jurassic Park movie made major changes to John Hammond, turning him from a sinister figure as he is in the books to a likable grandfather in the movie. The book’s version of John Hammond is much more calculating, and driven by profits rather than misplaced wonder and naivety. Hammond in Michael Crichton’s novel more closely resembles the movie’s lawyer, Donald Gennaro, and a scene from the book shows Hammond talking about how Jurassic Park must be made “for children who can afford it.”

Jurassic Park‘s John Hammond is different from the book, and serves a very important purpose for the story. Hammond has great ideals but very little practicality, and the character perfectly illustrates how even people with the best of intentions can have a key role in causing a catastrophe. As the movie made him into a much more pleasant character, he survived the story, while the book’s version of John Hammond had a very disturbing ending, being eaten alive by a pack of Compsognathus.

2

Donald Gennaro

The Movie Turns The Lawyer From A Moralistic Hero To A Sleazy Stereotype

T rex eats Gennaro on the toilet in Jurassic Park

One of the unintentional villains of the Jurassic Park book was John Hammond, while Donald Gennaro was one of the voices of reason. Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park changed Gennaro from a more well-rounded character into a sleazy lawyer stereotype. This change is one of the few criticisms that reviews tend to mention when comparing the book with the movie. Gennaro is a greedy and unpleasant person in the movie, and his undignified death involving a toilet is one of the movie’s funnier scenes.

Mahershala Ali looking scared with a flare in Jurassic World Rebirth

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In the book, Gennaro is tasked with investigating Jurassic Park’s potential financial success, but he goes against the orders of his superiors when he realises the danger that the park will pose. Rather than prioritizing his job and instructions, he sets about trying to rein John Hammond in, and make the park a safer place. The Gennaro in the movie abandons Lex and Tim, leaving viewers with little room for sympathy when he dies, while the books version survives the island.

1

The Velociraptors

The Book’s Velociraptors Are Modeled After A Different Dinosaur

Velociraptors in the Kitchen in Jurassic Park

Though Velociraptors are described as hunting in packs, only three are seen onscreen in Jurassic Park, which includes the nail-biting kitchen scene where two stalk Lex and Tim. This is explained by Muldoon, who says that one of them killed all but two of the others. This goes against Dr. Grant’s original speech about Velociraptors, but illustrates how little the characters know about the behavior of the genetically-engineered dinosaurs in Jurassic Park.

It appears that Jurassic World: Rebirth will get more accurate Velociraptors, but even Michael Crichton’s novel does not describe them accurately. This is because Crichton took inspiration from the Deinonychus when he wrote his groundbreaking novel, rather than Velociraptors. Still, the Velociraptors in the Jursassic Park novel also behave differently from the ones in the movie, flocking like birds and preparing to migrate, which is a different and much more ominous ending than the film’s optimistic final scene.

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Jurassic Park

PG-13

Adventure

Sci-Fi

ScreenRant logo

10/10

31

9.3/10

Release Date

June 11, 1993

Runtime

127 minutes

Director

Steven Spielberg

Writers

Michael Crichton, David Koepp

Producers

Gerald R. Molen

Cast

See All

  • Headshot Of Sam Neill

    Sam Neill

    Grant

  • Headshot Of Laura Dern

    Laura Dern

    Ellie

Jurassic Park is a science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on Michael Crichton’s novel. Released in 1993, it follows a wealthy entrepreneur who creates a theme park with living dinosaurs. When security systems fail, experts and visitors experience the perilous reality of the park.

Main Genre

Adventure

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