- "Good, this is good. Here we are in the worst place in the world and we're not even being paid."
- —Dr. Alan Grant(src)
Dr. Alan Grant is one of the main characters in the Jurassic Park Franchise. He is a paleontologist who was invited by John Hammond to his dinosaur park, Jurassic Park. Alan is portrayed very differently over the various canons:
Novels
Jurassic Park
Concept art of Grant, Tim, and Lex, based on the novel; however, Grant does not have a beard
In the Jurassic Park novel Grant is described as a bearded, black haired, forty-year-old chief paleontologist from Montana. Earlier, many years before the events of the novel, Grant had a wife; however, she died, leaving him widowed. At the time of the InGen incident and the time of the publication of the book it can be assumed that Grant was born in either the year 1950 or 1949. Grant tells Tim Murphy that he is a widower. It is revealed that he helped describe the Maiasaura with Jack Horner. Interestingly, Grant is based on Horner himself - one of the scientific advisers for Jurassic Park - rather than on Bob Makela (1940-1987), Horner's co-author for Maiasaura.
Grant had uncovered a Velociraptor skeleton in Montana, when he was invited to Jurassic Park. It was there that he met Tim Murphy and supposedly becomes good friends with him. Tim Murphy is the man who confirmed the breeding problems of the Othnielia, Velociraptor, Maiasaura, Procompsognathus and Hypsilophodon.
Later, he witnesses the Tyrannosaurus escaping its paddock and attacking the remainder of the tour group. In the ensuing carnage Ian Malcolm is severely wounded when the Tyrannosaurus throws him in the air. Shortly following the attack, he escapes with John's grandchildren. Grant and the children successfully cross the Tyrannosaurus paddock and spend the night in a large tree. When they wake up, they cross over the perimeter fence, make it back to the visitor's center, and reunite with Ellie.
On returning to the Visitor Center, Grant realizes the Velociraptors had escaped. The laboratory holds syringes filled with deadly toxins in case the scientists ever needed to quickly kill a dinosaur. Knowing that Velociraptors probably were scavengers and would eat dinosaur eggs, Grant injects several incubating eggs with the poison and rolls them out toward the raptors. Two of the raptors die in this fashion (one ate the egg, the other took a bite of his comrade). However, the third raptor does not fall for this and Grant has to kill it by physically sticking it with the syringe. After Tim restores power, the living protagonists are saved.
Grant, together with Ellie, and Donald Gennaro, investigate an underground Velociraptor nest where they find a man-made underground chamber in which the raptors follow a strange pattern of order. The creatures go outside in response of the sound of helicopters. The Costa Rican air force has landed on the island and saves the survivors, but Hammond is not among them. Unbeknownst to the others, Hammond is eaten alive by Procompsognathus. Grant then wittnesses the Isla Nublar bombing and is detained by the Costa Rican government.
The Lost World
Grant is only mentioned very briefly in The Lost World when it is said that he proposed a theory that Tyrannosaurus Rex could not function in the rain, and also that he spoke in conferences in Paris and Peking to Dr. Richard Levine about new Tyrannosaur fossil finds. This suggests that Grant and the other Isla Nublar incident survivors detained were released. The fact that Donald Gennaro died on a business trip supports this idea. He was also apparently bound to silence as well.
Jurassic Park movies
Jurassic Park
In Jurassic Park Alan Grant is a world renowned paleontologist working at a dig site just outside Snakewater, Montana. He is described in the script as:
DR ALAN GRANT, mid-thirties, a ragged-looking guy with intense concentration you wouldn't want to get in the way of. [1]
He is invited by John Hammond to his theme park: Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar. He and his partner Ellie Sattler accept the offer in exchange for a further three years of dig funding. When they arrive Grant is astonished by the sight of a living, breathing Brachiosaurus. The characters see how the DNA was extracted and then witness the birth of a Velociraptor.
Alan, Ellie, Lex and Tim
But the day quickly turns upside down when the Tyrannosaurus Rex escapes her paddock. He protects Lex Murphy and Tim Murphy while they try to make it through the park. This includes evading a falling Ford Explorer down a 20 foot tree, running from a herd of Gallimimus and climbing over an electric fence. Lex is able to get to the Visitor Center's computer room and restart all of the systems in the park. Alan and the kids are then attacked by raptors and make it to the front of the Visitor Center where John picks them up. Alan tells John that he has decided not to endorse his park and John now agrees with this sentiment. They get on a helicopter and leave the island.
Jurassic Park III
Alan appears again in Jurassic Park III. Alan has continued to work as a paleontologist, this time at a dig site near Fort Peck Lake, Montana. His relationship with Ellie has ended. Now he has a new partner in Billy Brennan, his apparent protege, but it is Alan who must rein in Billy's headstrong tendencies.
He visits Ellie and her family. In a way, he envies Ellie and her happy family and wonders why he shies away from marriage and fatherhood.
"Mr. Hammond, the phones are working."
He gives lectures on the intelligence of raptors. However, his listeners are only interested in the events in 1993 and the San Diego incident. He states that nothing could get him to go to The Five Deaths (Isla Sorna/SiteB). He is later bribed into going on an aerial tour of Isla Sorna by a so-called wealthy couple, Paul Kirby and Amanda Kirby. Alan invited his paleontology colleague Billy Brennan to accompany him on the trip.
While they are flying over the island, Alan notices that the pilot is going to land. Alan begins to protest but is knocked unconscious by Cooper, one of the mercenaries hired by the Kirbys. When Alan wakes up they have landed on the island already. Then after a take off disrupted by a Spinosaurus Alan and the others are trapped on the island. Alan discovers that the Kirby's are not wealthy or married, just normal people who were searching for their son, Eric, who had gotten lost on the island eight weeks before.The Kirbys realize Alan had never been on Isla Sorna. Alan, using his knowledge of dinosaurs, survives with the Kirby's and an injured Billy.
Dr. Grant's hat
Grant's hat
One of the most apparent characteristics of Dr. Grant is his fedora hat. In the first movie he always wears a hat, until it is blown from his head by the T. Rex. In Jurassic Park III he is again wearing a hat at the dig site, in the plane and at the island. He loses his hat in the Aviary while fleeing from the Pteranodons. At the end of the movie, when Billy and Alan meet again, Billy hands over Alan's hat. "I rescued your hat." Alan responds rather jokingly, "Well that's the important thing," and immediately puts it on his head.
Grant's habit to wear a hat and his devotion to it is not just an odd characteristic of Grant. For many paleontologists hats are very important. Jack Horner wrote about it in his book How to build a dinosaur:
"I can't say hats are as precious to paleontologists as they are to Texans, but they can be something of a signature, or talisman... Excavations are never, ever done in the shade. Where there is erosion and exposure, there is inevitable sun, and a hat, which is absolutely necessary, can gather memories and significance."[2]
Alan Grant's books
Tim's book in the movies
In the various canons of the Jurassic Park Series Alan Grant writes a number of books.
The Lost World of the Dinosaurs
It is clear from the novel Jurassic Park that Dr. Grant argues that dinosaurs evolved into birds. Tim Murphy reads it and agrees with Grant, stating he had "Dinosaurs on the brain".
Dinosaur Detectives
Essentially the film's depiction of The Lost World of the Dinosaurs. The film states that it was fully illustrated and was not as big as Robert Bakker's book. Tim carries a copy of the book around on his trip to Isla Nublar. The book was written by Alan Grant and Michael Backes (Backes was a friend and an occasional collaborator with author Michael Crichton. Backes served as the Display Graphics Supervisor on the movie. In the novel, Michael Crichton also included Backes' name as Chief Programmer of Jurassic Park.). The book also had a foreword by the Lord Richard Attenborough, the actor who portrayed John Hammond.
In Jurassic Park Adventures: Survivor a couple of quotes from the book appear:
When (the sauropods) ate North America empty, to travelled south to South America until that was empty. They just ate themselves out of existence.
Many scientists believe the dinosaurs never really died out 65 million years ago. These scientists believe dinosaurs live on today - as birds. The dinosaurs were too large and their food supply is too small, so the dinosaurs became a likely example of natural selection - in short, they were forced to adapt or perish.
Book about Jurassic Park
In Jurassic Park III Eric mentions a book that Alan Grant wrote about the Isla Nublar Incident. Eric sensed from this book that Alan somewhat disliked dinosaurs after the incident.
Pteranodon book
At the end of Jurassic Park Adventures: Flyers Alan Grants says he's planning to write a book about Pteranodons and their attack of Universal Studios.
Jurassic Park inspired games
- Alan Grant is the main playable character in the Jurassic Park SNES game. His appearance is based on the first film. He is armed with a spas-12 shotgun
- He is also playable in the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis game alongside the Velociraptor.
- Alan Grant is the main playable character in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Handheld game)
- He is again playable in Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues and Jurassic Park III: Island Attack.
- He appears in Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis where he is in charge of the fossil hunting teams and fossil market. He will inform the player of any new discoveries, shipments in the fossil market and related news.
- He makes a cameo appearance in the ending of the arcade Jurassic Park game.
- He is a playable character in the Jurassic Park mobile game, alongside Malcolm.
- He's one of the characters to appear in Jurassic Park: Builder.
- An unused quote from Jurassic Park: Trespasser states that Hammond was leaving early in the morning for Choteau, where he would meet Drs. Grant and Sattler
Comic books
Alan Grant is the main character in the comic series Jurassic Park: Raptor, Jurassic Park: Raptors Attack and Jurassic Park: Raptors Hijack.
Merchandise
The following objects based on Alan Grant appear in the Jurassic Park merchandise:
An I.D. pass contains Dr. Grant's signature.
Dr. Alan Grant I.D. Pass
incomplete list
Trivia
- In the film, Grant dislikes the kids at first, contrary to the father-like figure in the first Jurassic Park novel.
- Grant is based on Jack Horner, a real-life paleontologist that helped the movie crew in making dinosaurs based on facts and discoveries in the real world.
- In the Novel Grant tells the kids he had a wife who died years prior to the novel, this is never mentioned in any of the movies or comics.
Quotes
"I hate computers."
"Try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous Period. You get your first look at this "six foot turkey" as you enter a clearing. He moves like a bird, lightly, bobbing his head. And you keep still because you think that maybe his visual acuity is based on movement like T-Rex - he'll lose you if you don't move. But no, not Velociraptor. You stare at him, and he just stares right back. And that's when the attack comes. Not from the front, but from the side, [makes 'whooshing' sound] and the other two 'raptors you didn't even know were there. Because Velociraptor's a pack hunter, you see, he uses coordinated attack patterns and he is out in force today. And he slashes at you with this... a six-inch retractable claw, like a razor, on the middle toe. He doesn't bother to bite your jugular like a lion, say... no. He slashes at you here... or here... or maybe across the belly, spilling your intestines. The point is... you are alive when they start to eat you. So you know... try to show a little respect."
Alan: "Kids! You want to have one of those?"
Ellie: "I don't want that kid, but a breed of child, Dr. Grant, could be intriguing. I mean, what's so wrong with kids?"
Alan: "Oh, Ellie, look, they're noisy, they're messy, they're expensive."
Ellie: "Cheap... cheap..."
Alan: "They smell."
Ellie: "They do not smell!"
Alan: "Some of them smell."
Ellie: "Oh, give me a break!"
Alan: "Babies smell!"
Alan: "It's... It's a dinosaur"
Near Brachiosaurus
"Turn the light off, turn the light off" -' Grant after seeing Lex turn on a light moments after the T-Rex escapes.
"IAN, FREEZE!" - to Dr. Malcolm
Lex: "He left us!"
Alan: "But that's not what's I'm gonna do."
"Well, the world has changed so radically, and we're all running to catch up. I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but look: Dinosaurs and man, two species separated by sixty-five million years of evolution have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea what to expect?"
"Mr. Hammond, the phones are working" - to John Hammond
"Mr. Hammond, after careful consideration, I've decided NOT to endorse your park!" - to John Hammond
"Mr. Kirby, there's no such thing as Kirby Enterprises?" - to Paul Kirby
"I'd lose you, it's just me and the damn tourists!" - to Billy Brennan
"As far as I'm concerned, you're no better than the people who built this place!"- to Billy Brennan
"Well, that's the important thing" - response to Billy saving his hat
(to the computer programmer in the 1st movie) "What's the fun in that?"
References
- ↑ Jurassic Park script, scene 5.
- ↑ How to build a dinosaur (the new science of reverse evolution), Jack Horner & James Gorman, pg. 122.