Jurassic Park

The gate's doors swing open and the cruisers move forward. The kids squeal out a YA-HOO that floats through the air to Grant. But Grant wears a cautious face, his skeptical eyes scan the landscape.

A FANFARE of trumpets and then a pre-recorded voice speaks from a console in each cruiser. Video screens display a welcome message.

PRE-RECORDED VOICE

Welcome to Jurassic Park. You are now entering the lost world of the prehistoric past, a world of mighty creatures long gone from the face of the earth, which you are privileged to see for the first time...

Regis uses his walkie-talkie to contact Grant's cruiser.

REGIS

(on walkie)

That's Richard Kiley. We spared no expense.

PRE-RECORDED VOICE

We'll begin our tour today with the herbivores...

INT. / EXT. CRUISERS – FIRST TOUR STOP – DAY

Between massive tree trunks, a spectacular view: storm clouds touch mountaintops. Below, the lagoon ripples in pink crescents.

PRE-RECORDED VOICE

... and the grasses are a species of juniper, and samples can be purchased at the gift shop. Now, if everyone will take a look to the right...

All eyes swing that way. Grant doesn't see a thing. Nor do the others.

AHEAD, Timmy pulls the binoculars out of the equipment pouch and studies the location. Lex grabs the night goggles. Timmy pulls them from her.

REGIS
Look...

LEX AND TIMMY

I don't see anything. Do you see anything? There's nothing there.

REGIS

Something's out there...

IN THE SECOND CAR

A fly buzzes on Grant's windshield. Grant hangs out his window almost sniffing the air for some movement. Nothing.

SUDDENLY the trees in front of them move! A deep trumpeting SOUND and TWO BRACHIOSAURS rumble away from the side of the road. The ground SHAKES as they walk, their BELLOWING fills the air. Led by Grant, the passengers rise through the open top of their Land Cruisers, to look up at the dinosaurs far above.

DROOPING FROM ABOVE, leaves and little branches shower on Grant. Utter amazement fills Grant's face, then his mouth breaks into a giant smile then a laugh. He simply can't believe his eyes. His laugh becomes raucous and euphoric.

GRANT

Ellie! Can you imagine the excavation team seeing this!

Behind him, Ellie's whole person is awestruck, immobile. Gennaro squints, straining to make sense of this unbelievable reality.

IN THE CAR AHEAD

Lex and Timmy stare open-mouthed. Regis looks at the animal and then at the group's reverie. He smiles knowingly: he's been there, too. He bends and whispers:

REGIS

Congratulations. You're the first kids in the whole wide world ever to see real dinosaurs.

The kids look up at Regis with wonder in their eyes.

Grant can't stop laughing. Still chewing, a brachiosaur cranes down to peer at this laughing man. The brachiosaur's huge head stops inches away from Grant. Grant, awestruck, stares and them –

CLOSE ON – Grant as his eyes slowly roll back and... he faints.

The dinosaur casually moves away as Ellie comes to Grant's aid.

ELLIE

Alan? Alan?

(sort of delighted)

He fainted!

Gennaro waves to Regis that all is okay. Grant slowly revives. He looks back at the brachiosaur, groggily, smiling away. He looks at Ellie and their eyes linger on each other longer than usual, sharing a look of serene delight.

Gennaro plops back in his seat and ponders the scene before him. A glazed look fills his face.

GENNARO

My God, we're going to make a fortune here!

CAMERA PUSHES IN on the majestic, gentle beauty of the Brachiosaurs. JUNGLE SOUNDS DOMINATE, growing louder and louder.

INT. CONTROL ROOM – DAY

Hammond sits at his throne, happily watching the huge video screen which displays the tour group. He laughs raucously and calls to Arnold.

HAMMOND

He fainted. I've waited fifteen years to impress that young man.

ARNOLD

Oh Mr. Hammond, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but Muldoon needs you by the pit.

HAMMOND

Oh, balls.

INT. / EXT. CRUISERS, SECOND TOUR STOP – DAY

The cruisers come to a stop. In the distance, a HERD OF GALLIMIMUS graze. They stand on their hind legs to get at high palm trees, then drop gracefully down on all fours to chew. BABY GALLIMIMUS scamper around the adults, eating leaves that drop from the larger animals.

PRE-RECORDED VOICE
... Gallimimus, known as the ostrich dinosaur for the shape of its shoulders, have a very strong nesting instinct...

Grant doesn't listen. He is simply intoxicated with the pastoral beauty of the gentle, grazing dinosaurs. Suddenly, he looks away with a deep concern. Ellie looks at him questioningly.

GRANT

Ellie? What the hell are we going to do with the rest of our lives?

Ellie smiles at him, puzzled.

ELLIE

What to you mean?

GRANT

Can't you see it, Ellie? We're the ones that are extinct now.

INT. / EXT. CRUISERS – THIRD TOUR STOP – DAY

PRE-RECORDED VOICE

... lots more to see in the herbivore section of our park. But as we come alongside out Jurassic jungle river to the left, let's try and catch a glimpse of a very unusual and dangerous carnivore. Look across the river and above...

A lovely mossy clearing. And to the side, bounded just by a thicket of bushes, a precipitous drop to a tropical river, lush and clear. The river runs fast but it is narrow. On the other side is a sharp rise.

PRE-RECORDED VOICE

And there they are!

Standing on that natural pedestal and watching our tour come to a stop are TWO DILOPHOSAURUS, man-sized dinosaurs with gills that hang around their necks. Grant and Ellie chime in with the pre-recorded voice.

ALL THREE

Dilophosaurus!

Timmy and Lex point enthusiastically. Regis holds them down with a gentle but restraining arm.

PRE-RECORDED VOICE

Dilophosaurus is one of the earliest carnivores. Scientists once thought their jaw muscles were too weak to kill, but now, through the miracle of their cloning, we know Dilophosaurs spit venom, a poison which causes blindness and then unconsciousness.

Their distinctive HOOT drifts across the afternoon air.

GENNARO
Poisonous dinosaurs, there's a liability issue without a lot of precedent.

CLOSEUP of the nearly motionless Dilophosaurus. One yawns wide.

GRANT
(assessing)

It's like a Gila monster of a cobra. It's a poison...

ELLIE

Spitter!

The Spitters bound off as Grant watches, transfixed. A flock of birds burst from a tree and cross the sky. Trees filter the light.

ELLIE

Are we dreaming all this?

EXT. RAPTOR PIT – DAY

A big hole in the ground, covered with a think wire mesh. Suddenly, a dark claw pushes against the wire web. A SHOWER OF SPARKS. A SCREECH animals GROWL and SNARL. An animal slams its face into the mesh. SPARKS illuminate a set of RAZOR-SHARP TEETH.

Muldoon stands next to the pit, carefully loading an assault rifle. Hammond comes in a hurry. Muldoon sees Hammond and puts down the rifle. He walks to Hammond, talking before he gets there.

MULDOON

These raptors are too damn dangerous. One of them tunneled out this morning. He ripped a boy's arm off before I could get a bullet in him.

HAMMOND

A bullet? Muldoon – no! Now what? I have five left?

MULDOON

John, they're mean as scorpions and smart as chimps. Their little fingers make them natural cage-breakers. We should terminate the raptor program. They're just too smart. Too damn smart.

HAMMOND

Oh balls. I will not terminate the raptors just because they're behaving normally. They're hunters. Why can't we contain them properly?

Hammond starts to walk away. Muldoon follows, he's not finished at all.

MULDOON

John, remember back in '88, when we started to build the containment devices? We ordered cattle prods, tasers, guns that blow out electric nets. They're all too slow for these guys. If we're going to keep the raptors, I want TOW missiles and laser-guided devices.

Hammond laughs warmly. He pats Muldoon on the back.

HAMMOND

It's just a zoo, Muldoon. A zoo. Figure out a way to contain them. And we'll sit down and have a nice long discussion about raptors – after my guests leave, okay?

Hammond walks away. Muldoon stares after him, jingling keys in his hand. Muldoon lumps over to a WORKER.

MULDOON
Okay! Get a 'dozer, start digging round the pit. We're gonna bury some fence. And wear your rifle when you're working!

INT. CONTROL ROOM – AFTERNOON

Hammond enters and crosses to his throne. Hammond swivels to Arnold who exhales smoke. Nedry looks over, keeps typing.

HAMMOND

Where are they? Punch 'em up.

ARNOLD

They'll be by the trike's in a moment. Trike's sick again.

HAMMOND

How can you say it so matter-of-factly? The trike's. You casually accept it, but I never can. You know what it means when you say "by the trikes"? "By the trike's" means that they're out there by the species: triceratops horridus. It astounds me every time what I've done here. What magic, what alchemy. We turned a piece of a rock into a dinosaur. I will never be complacent about that.

Arnold smiles and punches a button. WE HEAR the pre-recorded tour voice and some chatter of the kids.

EAVESDROPPING on the tour is interrupted by a radio transmission to the control room. Arnold slides over and shuts off the tour monitoring. The picture on the video screen is now of a cargo boat at a dock.

RADIO
Hello, John. This is the Anne B at the dock. I'm looking at the storm patterns just south of us. Requesting permission to leave before unloading the last three food containers.

Nedry looks up quickly, listening carefully.

RADIO

Don't want to be stuck here if this chop gets much worse.

Hammond reacts with quiet dismay. Nedry quietly gets up.

NEDRY

Coffee anyone?

He's ignored. Arnold defers to Hammond who leans to the microphone.

HAMMOND

Hello skipper, John Hammond, how are you tonight? I certainly don't want to imperil anyone. But can you give us one more container of food? Then we'll feel comfortable is the storm delays your return. Could you help us out here? Of course, if it looks too choppy just go, but you'd be doing us a big favor.

RADIO

Well... we'll do our best, sir. We'll get one more container off. How's that?

Hammond thanks him and signs off. Arnold looks at the darkening clouds.

INT. / EXT. CRUISERS – FOURTH TOUR STOP – LATE AFTERNOON

The cars twist through dense vegetation with a GRINDING of gears. The first car comes to a jerky stop.

There is a huge TRICERATOPS lying on its side, moving very slowly, breathing laboriously. HARDING, the tall, balding park vet, kneels on the ground. He peers into the animal's mouth with a large flashlight.

Before the second car can stop completely, Grant leaps out, races to the trike. Regis tries to restrain the kids but they chase Grant and Ellie.

Grant joins Harding on the ground. The trike lets out a low MOAN. She's too sick to move. Ellie and Lex squat by the animal.

LEX
I feel so sorry for her. She's so sick.

VET

We don't know what's wrong with Freda. Every six weeks she gets like this.

REGIS

Oh, she'll be up and around in no time. After a big night, I feel the same way.

Grant very gently opens the Trike's mouth.

GRANT

Poor girl. What's the matter? Ellie, look at this.

A dark purple tongue droops limply from her mouth. Ellie shines the light on it, illuminating silvery blisters. Gennaro turns away.

ELLIE

Microvesicles. Interesting.

Grant scratches one of the blisters with his ball-point pen. It oozes. The kids share a grossed-out look.

LEX

Doesn't she have a mommy and a daddy?

HARDING

We make these dinosaurs in the lab, sweetheart. But they do form attachments. Freda has a little one that follows her around, thinks Freda's his mom.

Grant starts to look around.

ELLIE

What does she eat? Where does she feed?

HARDING

Animal this size takes in a minimum of six hundred pounds of plants a day. We truck in hay and meadow grasses seven times a day. That's all she touches.

Grant studies the nearby grass and bushes. Timmy quietly follows Grant.

Ellie lifts a huge eyelid on the triceratops. A runny eye just stares.

Grant comes up triumphantly with a bouquet of weeds clutched in his hand. These weeds have little purple berries. Ellie looks over.

ELLIE

West Indian Lilacs!

GRANT

These'd give anybody a stomachache.

HARDING

I'm telling you, the animals don't eat don't eat that stuff.

Regis keeps a babysitter's eye on the kids. Timmy comes up with a handful of smooth stones. He approaches Grant shyly.

TIMMY

Dr. Grant, sir? How 'bout these? There's lots of little piles of these?

Grant fingers one distractedly, then suddenly comes to attention.

GRANT

Hey, Ellie take a look at his. Good work, Timmy.

Ellie gets up, brushes herself off, comes over and examines the stone.

ELLIE

Extremely smooth. Purple stains, could be those lilac berries.

She and Grant smile and each other and nod. Gennaro is curious.

HARDING

I don't get it.

GRANT

Looks like your trike swallows stones to help her digest her food. Walking around, she crushes berries against the stones. And even just a little crushed berry is eventually enough,

ELLIE

So, she poisons herself periodically.

HARDING

Bet we tested her saliva for any trace of –

GRANT

But with the stones, she swallows them and probably bypasses any mucosal contact. Straight to the stomach. I would test her excrement.

LEX

Yo, yuk!

A light RAIN begins. Automatically, with a soft hiss, the glass roofs of the cruisers slide shit. Gennaro taps Regis and indicates the cars.

GENNARO
Hey Regis, where are your rain gods? It's gonna pour. Let's finish our tour.

Grant agrees, heads for the cruisers. He turns and looks for Ellie. Ellie stands by the Trike. She gives Grant a meaningful look.

ELLIE

I'm staying.

Grant smiles at her decision.

GRANT

Soil samples?

ELLIE

You read my mind.

(confidentially)

I think she's sicker then they're saying. Her skin is dry and flaky. And her gums are pale. I'm going to talk to Dr. Wu.

GRANT

Good idea. I'll keep my eyes open.

Gennaro climbs in with Grant. The two cruisers start off and Timmy turns backward to stare wistfully at Grant. Regis and Lex wave to the Trike. Grant looks back to Ellie who has already begun to work.

ON TRIKE

A mosquito lands on its back. The trike's tail slaps it dead.