A Pitch for a New Jurassic Park Expansion

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Jurassic Week is coming to an end a bit earlier sadly due to a week of exams coming up, but now comes the main reason why I started Jurassic Week, well besides the release of Jurassic World of course. Anyone realize there was a theme going on with this week as I was trying to explore the franchise potential of this film, as the original movie is the only one truly considered to be great, as Lost World and III have been confronted with a variety of criticism. Still with the release of Jurassic World it feels like quite a gap is left behind between the first film and the recent release, as we never truly see the park being build or constructed. This sparked an idea in my head that slowly developed over the week so that after I have seen the film I could actually give this concept more weight, as I also consider how it can work without contradicting the newest installation. So without further ado, here is my pitch for a Jurassic Park TV series on Netflix, simply titled “Jurassic Land” for now.

Synopsis

You probably have already figured out what exactly what the concept is in general. As with Jurassic World the films Jurassic Park: The Lost World and Jurassic Park III are completely ignored it gives more leeway on what to do. The general synopsis for this TV show would be as follows.

A group of individuals are tasked by Simon Masrani (played by Irrfan Khan in World) to return to Isla Nublar and slowly win control over the island so that reconstructions can slowly start to what we know as Jurassic World.

It’s a simple concept, but for a television show this gives any executive producer more room to play with, as stories can always change over time and certainly allows for more characters to be added later on. I confess I have a love for stories that show us something evolve over time and I truly believe that this could certainly be an experience as we see this park being constructed. With a simple synopsis for the general show I do have some concrete plans for the first two season, but some details I will still keep close to the chest on how one could truly utilize the show. Actually, because I like this concept as much I might plan on writing a pilot in the near future, as summer season is coming closer.

Season 1

In the first season a group of various people with different professions, specially picked for this mission, are sent to the island Isla Nublar to slowly explore it and find ways to allow people to regain control. Our cast will build up camp at the beach, which allows for more characters to be added throughout the show, which will slowly grow over the course of the first season. Here they explore the island finding the original building and equipment, while trying to understand the dinosaurs and how they act to slowly expand from the beach. Naturally, can’t have a TV show without any suspense, so they aren’t the only group of people there, as another team are trying to win the island back as well. Combined together with the already prehistoric threats it would make for a compelling race for control over the island. The race will end in the final episode as they find themselves at the original Jurassic Park location.

Season 2

Now after our group, or the survivors at least, found the original park area it is time for them to slowly expand the original base and also capture some of the dinosaurs to use later for the park. Here is where conflicts slowly start, something that will be hinted at the first season, as some characters have different agendas. Some simply want to come to understand the dinosaurs and understand them, the others are thinking of the park and trying to put into captivity. This could potentially split the team and also lead to some more interesting development as the base expands and some hints are laid to

Characters

I won’t give away all the characters I would consider as a part of the film simply because that is a process that needs a bit more time to go through and I can only give rough sketches that probably wouldn’t be enough, something I can always evolve later on if I actually writing an actual pilot episode. Still, InGen is an important aspect of the franchise and you’ll always need characters that are equipped to battle some dinosaurs trying to kill them, so having a veteran fighter in the team could lead to some interesting discussions, as some characters would be a combination of scientists and archaeologists who have an understanding of dinosaurs and can lead as the viewers guide throughout this island. Still we are going to need a surrogate character for the audience, who would probably be a new soldier assigned to this mission without any real knowledge about dinosaurs, except nostalgia what we probably would share with him as most of us as children played with dinosaurs. As I stated this is just a short overview of main type of characters and can be easily expanded as soon as the pilot script is completed. To a certain extend one could even try to bring back some of the actors from the original film to expand the mythology of not only the show, but the franchise in general.

Production Costs

Dinosaurs are going to be expensive, but one think I am certain HBO has proven with Game of Thrones, it is certainly possible. Furthermore, not all dinosaurs have to be depicted, so a smart writer will find a way that they slowly uncover more of the island and its inhabitants, something some older shows even have done with dinosaurs themes such as Primeval, which did certainly have a more Sci-Fi effect, Terra Nova and more notably a show I watched as a kid The Lost Word. Maybe using a combination of CGI and animatronics can be used similar to the original film, which can add to the flair in general. Of course, it is easier said than done, but nothing is truly impossible and also a reason I believe Netflix could pull it off.

Netflix is famous for some recently amazing shows such as House of Cards, Marvel’s Daredevil, Orange is the New Black and many more, so imagine if you add a 13 episode show focused on the construction of Jurassic World to that repertoire. In addition with all the shows or movies being turned into TV shows it would make a lot of sense that even Jurassic Park would receive that kind of treatment and Netflix seems like the most competent platform to produce this show on.

This is a general overview for my personal pitch of a TV show focusing on the franchise gap left behind by Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, which allows for a lot of exploration and I confess comes from my love of world building in franchises. I really just want to see this park expand and being created slowly, as I think Jurassic Park lends itself to an amazing TV show concept. With how much I loved working on this article I might actually create a pilot as a continuation of this pitch. So, until that happens let’s see how this concept evolves.

What do you think? Like my idea and want to add some of your own? Leave a comment below and we can see this evolve further!