32 years after Jurassic Park first roared into theaters, one of its most discussed on-screen moments is still the T. rex paddock sequence, not only because of how it’s been permanently cemented in both the pop culture ether and our collective psyche, but also due to a major continuity error that has left fans absolutely baffled since its release.
Even casual fans of the film will remember that, one minute, the T. rex, when breaking out of its jungle enclosure, walks seamlessly onto the main road with which it’s ground level. A few minutes later, the tour vehicle with Lex (Ariana Richards) and Tim (Joe Mazzello) inside is on the edge of a sheer vertical drop that’s revealed to be a concrete moat.
Of course, Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel makes clear that some paddocks are indeed bordered by concrete moats, a detail echoed in the film when InGen lawyer Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero) is talking to John Hammond (Richard Attenborough).
But despite this, the jeep still suddenly appears near a drop during the T. rex attack sequence with no explanation as to how either the jeep or the moat itself got there.
The consensus is that the dinosaur simply moves the jeep further up the road off-screen, bringing it adjacent to the cliff. But one puzzling aspect about this theory is that the scene where Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Lex are later abseiling down that same moat wall, there’s nothing in the background behind them to suggest that the enclosure declines that dramatically. In fact, there’s nothing but jungle, whose treetops would theatrically sit beneath the enclosure the rex breaks out of in that earlier scene.
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Soon, the upcoming first-person action-adventure game “Jurassic Park: Survival” may offer a new chance to explore the paddock in detail and provide some answers about this blooper. Set 24 hours after the events of the 1993 film, the game promises “a fully realized Isla Nublar” for players to explore. Whether Saber Interactive’s sandbox environment will make sense of the infamous mistake or simply leave it as part of the original film’s charm remains to be seen.
Official production sources, however, confirm that the sudden appearance of the cliff was noticed during filming, and that it is indeed a continuity error and nothing more. According to materials tied to the Jurassic Park Official Script Book (via Wikipedia) and other behind-the-scenes reports, screenwriter David Koepp asked director Steven Spielberg on set whether audiences would notice the change. But Spielberg reportedly replied, “There’s a T. rex! They’re not gonna notice anything else!”
In recent years, fans have responded to the blooper in their own way, using park-building video games such as “Jurassic World Evolution” and fan-made mods to reconstruct the paddock and make sense of the mistake. These clever digital re-creations allow players to test theories about the T. rex’s movement and how the sequence plays out.
Still, many fans remain unconvinced and believe that it’s a mistake and nothing more. Well, it turns out they were right all along.
Does Spielberg’s answer leave you feeling satisfied, or do you think there’s a better explanation behind this Jurassic Park blooper? Let us know in the comments!
