Episode Studies by Clayton Barr enik1138 at popapostle dot com |
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Dinosaurs stampede through the town of Glen Rose.
Sheriff Delgado gathers up his deputies, plus Lex, Jaamise, and a number of townsfolk to begin a sweep of the area to round up the loose dinosaurs. Just as they're about to begin, Drs. Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler join the parade as well, bringing along the U.S. Army. Meanwhile, at the breeding pens, most of the dinosaurs are turned loose, while Tim is shocked to learn that his business partner is really good ol' Uncle Pete. The disfigured Ludlow informs his nephew how he survived the mauling by the rexes in San Diego all those years ago: After being rescued by his men, he allowed the world to believe he had been eaten that night and used his knowledge and contacts to begin a systematic search through InGen files for information on the dino breeding program. He learned that, on that fatal night on Isla Nublar, Hammond had sent Dr. Wu away from the storm with a duplicate set of the dino embryos. Ludlow then made contact with Wu and they began to recreate the breeding program, soon bringing in Dodgson and Tim as well. Unknown to Wu, the insane Ludlow's real plan was to disgrace the Hammond name by allowing dinosaurs to escape from Tim's breeding program so his family would take the world's blame for the havoc. Upon hearing the story direct from the man himself, Tim suddenly yanks his grandfather's oval of amber from the control stick of Ludlow's wheelchair and throws it at Ludlow's bodyguard, striking him on the head and knocking him out, while Ludlow's chair begins spinning out of control. Tim locks the two men in the office. Tim heads out into Glen Rose to try to help clean up his mess and is reunited with Lex and Ellie. During the stampede of dinos through town, Dodgson is run through on the point of a Triceratops' horn. And back at the breeding pens, Dr. Backer awakens from being knocked out in the previous issue. He hears Ludlow shouting to be let out of the office, but instead of freeing him, the angry paleontologist shove's a crate-sized cage of unrevealed dinosaurs up against the office door, unlocking the cage afterwards. On the streets, Grant finds himself about to become dinner for a carnosaur when Dr. Backer suddenly shows up on horseback and lassos the rampaging beast!
Didja Notice?
On cover A, notice that, in the background, a dinosaur is
pulling a woman out of the window of a building! On page 2, Drs. Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler arrive in Glen Rose in a Jeep to assist with the dino round-up. In panel 3, Grant says, "Damn seat belts!" struggling to get free from his; this is a callback to the scene in Jurassic Park aboard Hammond's helicopter where he's trying to get belted in. Grant and Ellie have brought U.S. Army troops in trucks and choppers to aid in the round-up. Perhaps the two researchers have an in with the Army ever since their dealings with them during the events of the Topps Comics series of JP comic books? There is also the fact that Ellie's husband, Mark, was said to work for the State Department in Jurassic Park III. In telling the story of how he survived the attack by the rexes on the boat in San Diego, Ludlow mentions "Malcolm and his whore". By "whore", he is referring to Dr. Sarah Harding. Referring back to his fate at the end of The Lost World, Ludlow explains that after the adult rex was finally tranqed, he was able to crawl to a place of safety from the juvenile and, soon after, some of his men were able to pull him out and get him to medical care. On page 5, we see various portions of a wall map in the Sheriff's office that is presumably meant to be a map of Glen Rose, TX. Looking closely at it under a magnifying glass, I've been able to identify the map as actually being of San Francisco, by such identifiers as Civic Center BART station and Golden Gate Avenue. Page 5 hints that it was Tim's idea to set up the breeding operation at Dinosaur Valley State Park, using his pull with the Washington elite to secure permission. Also on page 5, the deputy reports a dinosaur attack on Windsor Street. As far as I can tell, there is no Windsor Street in Glen Rose. On page 6, Ludlow explains that being presumed dead all these years allowed him to be the ghost in the machine within InGen, and he scoured the company files for information about dinosaurs and Jurassic Park. He learned that besides Site B (Isla Sorna), Hammond had also had Dr. Wu entrusted with a duplicate set of dino DNA that he took with him when he fled the storm on Isla Nublar on the boat (in Jurassic Park). On page 12, panel 3, the young sauropod appears to be licking the driver's side window on the car Lex is driving. On page 14, we're left with the impression that Ludlow's stooge has been knocked unconscious after being hit in the head by the amber ball thrown by Tim. It's hard to believe that such a small, lightweight object could knock someone out. On page 16, panel, 1, the country fair workers are, ironically, running towards the House of Horrors to escape from the Carnotaurus. On page 17, Sergeant Schmidt is referred to by the helicopter pilot as Bravo 1, while the choppers are Tweetybird 6 and 4. Also on page 17, one of the pilots comments that the dinosaurs are "moving like there's a 50% off sale at Walmart's..." Walmart, of course, is a chain of discount department stores in the U.S. and around the world. On the double-page spread of pages 18-19, panels 1, 3 and 8, several unidentified carnosaurs are seen. The absence of horned eye-ridges informs us that none of these is the Carnotaurus. In panel 2, the horn on the carnosaur's nose suggests it is a Ceratosaurus, a species previously seen in Jurassic Park III. On page 20, panel 1, a ranch hand is seen riding the back of a young sauropod. This may be a bit of an homage to the original Land of the Lost TV series, in which Holly Marshall was shown riding on the back of the baby brontosaur called Dopey. On the last panel of page 20, Dodgson gets stabbed through the shoulder by an angry Triceratops. The last page of the issue shows Dr. Backer riding in on horseback and lassoing a carnosaur. This may be an homage to the 1969 film, The Valley of Gwangi, about cowboys who discover a lost valley filled with dinosaurs. A scene of the cowboys lassoing an Allosaurus occurs in the film. Unanswered Questions This issue reveals that Hammond had sent Dr. Wu away from the storm on Isla Nublar (in Jurassic Park) on the ship with a duplicate set of the dino embryos. So, why didn't Wu return them to InGen after the incident? Wouldn't Hammond have demanded there return? We're left with the impression that Wu still had them several years later when he was contacted by Ludlow. Back to Episode Studies
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