The Jurassic World Trilogy Totally Forgot That The Dinosaurs Had Already Escaped 23 Years Ago

Summary The events of Jurassic Park 3 show that dinosaurs had already escaped Isla Sorna before Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

The pteranodons seen flying to an unknown destination in Jurassic Park 3 were never addressed in subsequent films.

This plot hole regarding escaped dinosaurs in earlier films undermines the impact of the sequel trilogy's focus on escaped dinosaurs.

The Jurassic World movies expanded on many aspects of the franchise's lore, but the films seemingly forgot one important detail about dinosaurs escaping into the world beyond Isla Sorna. A key theme in the sequel trilogy is how the long-extinct animals will interact with the outside world once they inevitably escape. However, while this is a major focus for the films and raises interesting questions about humanity's relationship with nature, it also ignores an important detail from the franchise's past.

Dinosaurs escaping to the mainland has been a key concern of Jurassic Park since its inception. While the theme is largely absent from Spielberg's original film, it is included in Michael Crichton's source novel, where dinosaurs have already spread onto mainland Central America. While Spielberg's follow-up, The Lost World, provided a taste of what was to come, the franchise tackled the theme head-on in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, where the disastrous auction at the end of the movie led directly into the events of Dominion. However, while the large-scale escape was important, it wasn't the first time dinosaurs had spread unchecked in the series.

Related How To Watch Jurassic Park Movies & TV Shows In Order: Chronologically Or By Release Date The dinosaur adventure franchise has seen numerous film and TV installments, but the Jurassic Park timeline has a couple of confusing bumps to it.

Dinosaurs Already Escaped The Islands In Jurassic Park 3

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Although Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom suggests that the dinosaur escape during the finale is a seminal moment in humanity's changing relationship with dinosaurs, the film and its follow-up seemingly forgot that the animals already got out during Jurassic Park 3's closing moments. As Dr. Alan Grant and the Kirby's leave Isla Sorna in a helicopter, Alan spies a trio of pteranodons flying away from the islands. When asked where he thinks they're going, he replies, "new nesting grounds", suggesting that they plan to settle far from Isla Sorna. It is this moment that marks the first time the islands' extinct inhabitants genuinely escape.

Unlike the T. Rex scene in The Lost World, Jurassic Park 3's pteranodons are flying to an unknown destination with little chance of being caught. Given the extent to which dinosaurs are shown to change the modern world in Fallen Kingdom and Dominion, it seems unlikely that they would have had no impact at the end of Jurassic Park 3. And yet, despite this potential, the incident is not mentioned again in the series. This plothole is not just a simple oversight – it actively damages the movies' message about upsetting the balance of the natural world.

What Happened To Jurassic Park 3's Pteranodons

Although the movies fail to address what happens to Jurassic Park 3's pteranodons, some of the franchise's supplementary material does address the problem. The Masrani Global website, created ahead of Jurassic World, identified Vincent D'Onofrio's Vic Hoskins as "overseeing the infamous flying reptile clean-up operation over Canada in 2001". However, the outcome of this operation is never explained, and the movies themselves make no reference to it, meaning that exactly what happened to the animals remains a mystery.

The Jurassic Park series is full of inconsistencies that, with each passing movie, make the overarching story seem nonsensical if they're too closely examined. However, what marks the Jurassic Park 3 pteranodon plot hole out is that it involves what became the key concern of the franchise as the movies progressed. As a result of this oversight, Jurassic World's dis cussion of escaped dinosaurs lost some of its impact. By implicitly suggesting that such an event perhaps wouldn't be as significant as Dominion suggests, Jurassic World accidentally undermined its own message.

Source: Masrani Global