4) Genetically-Modified Dinosaurs
Jurassic World may ape many of the themes and ideas from Stephen Spielberg’s seminal Jurassic Park, but it also changes the status quo for the franchise in a big way by introducing genetically modified dinosaurs like the Indominus Rex. As Dr. Wu states in the film, DNA splicing has been done since the beginning (in order to create the dinos in the first place), but things were taken to new heights with the Indominus, which was created to be bigger, meaner and “cooler” than the dinos that came before. This was accomplished by splicing several different species together, from a T-Rex to a cuttlefish, and even a velociraptor.
Now that the concept has been introduced, you can bet that it will play a huge role in future installments. Scientists now have the power to create new dinosaurs, and if we know anything about humanity based on our own reality, humans absolutely love messing with DNA to genetically modify nature for our own purposes.
If the dino-splicing technology falls into the wrong hands (which it most surely will – we’ll explore that in a minute), we could be seeing a bevy of genetically-altered dinosaurs created for all kinds of purposes. Though Trevorrow won’t return for future Jurassic films, he did tease that he’d like to see the technology go open-source in the future:
“I really like the idea that this group of geneticists aren’t the only people who can make a dinosaur. You know, when you think of the differences between Apple and PC – the minute something goes open source, there are all kinds of entities and interests that may be able to utilise that technology… It would be like the way we have relationships with animals on this planet right now – there are animals that are kept in zoos, like Jurassic Park, but they are also used in agriculture, and medicine and in war.”
While the Indominus Rex is the only genetically-modified dino in Jurassic World, that wasn’t always the case. In an early draft of the script, Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard’s characters stumble upon a Stegoceratops – a Stegosaurus and Triceratops hybrid – out in the park. Trevorrow cut it from the film in order to make the Indominus feel more special and monstrous, but there is a hint of it in Wu’s secret lab, as seen in the photo above. So, while the Indominus is the only spliced dino in the actual film, the seed for future Frankenstein dinosaurs is certainly in the film’s DNA.