Jurassic Park’s most iconic moments as the classic movie turns 30

Virgin Radio

9 Jun 2023, 13:43

It’s been 30 years since the first Jurassic Park film landed in cinemas. Spielberg’s dinosaur classic came out in June 1993 in the US, and the following month in the UK.

Based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Michael Crichton, the movie stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Richard Attenborough and, upon its release, was revolutionary for its special effects and use of CGI technology. 

Three whole decades on, the effects still stand up, and the story is considered a timeless classic, with so many iconic moments. Here are the best of them: 

Welcome to Jurassic Park

It’s the moment where the majesty of the dinosaurs, and the impressive CGI, becomes apparent for the first time. 

Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) look up, utterly aghast at a Brachiosaurus, as CEO and creator of Jurassic Park, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) says: “Welcome to Jurassic Park”. 

The glass of water

It’s one of the first images that comes to mind when you think of Jurassic Park, isn’t it? A cup of water gets ripples in it, meaning that something heavy is heading towards it. The ‘boom, boom’ times with the movement in the glass as the T Rex gets closer.

Iconic.

Kitchen nightmare

One of the scariest moments in the movie is when the velociraptors get into the kitchen (they can open doors? Yikes!) and Hunt down Lex and Tim.

The kids crawl around the floor on their hands and knees, trying to stay hidden, in a terrifying game of cat and mouse. Or rather, dinosaur and human.

Clever girl

The most famous line in all of the series? Maybe.

Muldoon gets one of the escaped raptors in his sights, but not all is what it seems. What’s that rustling in the trees to his left? Uh oh, it’s another raptor. Realising that he is toast, Jurassic Park's game warden simply expresses his admiration for the intelligence of the attack, saying: “Clever girl.”

The raptor takes no time to finish him off.

What a way to go

Earlier in the movie, there is another memorable death. Indeed, this is the first time a T Rex kills a character. 

Lawyer Donald Gennaro flees the huge beast and shuts himself in a toilet, perching on the loo. This doesn’t stop the dinosaur from finding and eating him.

Seinfeld guy meets his maker

Seinfeld’s Wayne Knight (“Hello Newman”) plays Dennis Nedry, a computer programmer and minor antagonist who, due to being strapped for cash, accepts a bribe to smuggle dinosaur embryos off the island.

When his car gets stuck in mud on a very rainy night, he comes across a Dilophosaurus. 

Things do not end well for him.

In other Jurassic Park news, a special orchestral concert tour is coming to the UK later this year to mark the film’s 30th anniversary.