Jurassic Park - The Novel

I have just finished reading the novel Jurassic Park. I am a lover of the film and always meant to read the book and finally got around to it this week. I was expecting to be underwhelmed by the book, the film is one of my favourite films, but it captured me and I preferred it to the film. The book is full of much more suspense and action than the film, it seemed to be almost like the trilogy crammed into one book, with many more dinosaurs and events taking place which didn't happen n the film.

The book starts off giving a brief background into the 1980's boom of genetic research and how InGen started as a genetic research company. It then describes how workmen arrive at a clinic with injuries attributed to machinery but really are injuries from the dinosaurs. A little girl then gets mauled by a Procompsognathagus or Compy for short and the remains of one is found but due to it being extinct it is said to be a lizard species and nothing more is thought of it.

The rest of the book follows how the film goes but with added details and differences with characters inspecting the park and all the problems that occur thanks to Dennis Nedry tampering with the system and dying due to an attack by a Dilophosaurus.

I love how much more detail goes into the park with two tyrannosaurus Rex’s, one adult and one juvenile. It adds to the drama, same with the Raptors, which have bred unbeknown to the park management and play havoc in the park when the power is down. The story is told from many perspectives, the main one is Dr Grant and the children getting from the T Rex enclosure to the Visitor Centre with many twists along the way like being chased downstream by the T Rex and attacked by Pterodactyls in a giant aviary.

Unlike the film hardly any of the main characters die, Gennaro who is famously killed whilst on the toilet survives, the only deaths are Dennis Nedry (Dilophosaurus attack), Henry Wu (Velociratoptor), John Arnold (Velociraptor) & John Hammond (broken ankle and Compy's feasting on him). Ian Malcolm is also said to have but survives and is featured in the sequel.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the part I found strange was how the characters are totally different to how they look in the film. Dr Grant is described as wearing colourful shirts, having a beard totally unlike the film. I kept on picturing Sam Neill, his demeanour is also different with him being child friendly unlike the film. Also the characters of Tim and Lexi are opposite with Tim being the older sibling and Lexi the youngest. That was my only qualm, I have seen the film so many times that it hampered my perception of the characters in the book. I would however like to see another film adaptation of Jurassic Park but more true to the book.

I have began to read the sequel to Jurassic Park, also called The Lost World. I hope it is as good a read as this was. I highly recommend Jurassic Park to everyone. You will be surprised how good it really is.

Elementary my dears.......

I have just finished two Sherlock Holmes box sets, one being with legendary actor Basil Rathbone and ther with another legend in Jeremy Brett. I have always been aware of the films especially with Basil Rathbone having caught brief glimpses of them when I've been with grandparents and my interest was piqued after I received a Sony Reader for Christmas. My favourite novel and first book I put on the Reader is The Hound of the Baskervilles. The murder mystery and most famous of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.

I absorbed the book quickly, like I have done every other time I have read it, over the years I have bought and lost the novel several times. It is nice to have it in digital form, I can no longer lose it. After speedily getting through my favourite I bought the rest of the Sherlock Holmes collection of books, I loved them all. I cannot believe it took me 21 years to read them all.

I scoured shops for box sets of the films and was lucky enough to come by a selection of box set in HMV in Cardiff. I bought two for £48, at a saving of £150. I was very pleases with my purchases and subsequent saving especially considering I have a very expensive summer this year. The two box set I bought were a collection of the late 30's early 40's films with Basil Rathbone and the complete collection from the Granada television series featuring the late Jeremy Brett in the title role.

I started with the Basil Rathbone films purely because they lasted a total of 19 hours as apposed to the 39 of the Granada series. The films are in black and White, the mode of cinematography of the time and sets can be somewhat cheap looking, which detracts a little from the stories especially in The Hound of the Baskervilles. I also notice that throughout the films actors have recurring roles as minor characters, a feature of the time as actors were contracted to the studios as opposed to a film then move on. 

I enjoyed the films thoroughly the lack of technicolour really adds to the films and create a mood that is often lost in today's cinema. The score was also very rich, my favourite example being The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. 

My only gripe is apart from the first two films The Hound & The Adventures, the other films aren't faithful to the novels. They are modernised and set in the 1940's as opposed to Victorian times. Therefore the stories are altered and at times very corny and cheesy. If the films were exact dramatisations of the novels they would be excellent, the modernisation and blatant War propaganda spoil them for me. Holmes is a sleuth not a mouthpiece to rally support for the war by spouting quotes from recent Churchill speeches to close the films. 

To me Basil Rathbone is partly Sherlock Holmes, Basil plays the role as the typical heroic English gent, suave, sophisticated and well mannered. I had never seen Basil act prior to this film and I was blown away by his acting. A legend of his time. When he was in shot he commanded the space and played off his cast very well, especially Nigel Bruce who played Dr Watson. Their relationship was very close and believable, an endearing quality of this set of films.

Nigel Bruce played a very good Watson, he bounced off Basil's Holmes excellently. His Watson was portrayed as a clumsy, bumbling man who accidentally messes up and let's slip a secret or suspect. His Watson is far removed from the Watson in the novels, an educated, intelligent man. In spite of this his Watson is loveable and you cant help smiling at his mishaps and being drawn to his character. Much the same can be said about this series' portrayal of Inspector Lestrade who like Watson is a fool, also unlike the novel. It does make you wonder how on earth these men Rose to be a doctor and chief inspector given their hapless nature.

All in all this was an enjoyable set of films, I only wish they were more true to the novels in terms of plot and characterisations and that my favourite - The Hound - was done full scale and on location, other than that these films were great and I would certainly watch them again on a rainy weekend. 

The next box set I was daunted about watching due to their length of 39 hours. I didn't think I would like Jeremy Brett due to my love of Basil's Holmes, at first this was the case but Jeremy grew on me as the series progressed. 

I'll start here, the series was broken up just like the novels with a collection of dramatisations under the banner 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes', 'The Return of Sherlock Holmes', 'The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes', His Last Bow. With the 'Sign of Four' and 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' as separate features. I enjoyed the stories as they were very true to the novels, some stories were adapted from the novels and changed somewhat but they were largely unchanged.  The setting was perfect, all set in the right period and beautifully filmed in often grand locations, shame the 1940s ones didn't get this treatment. 

Jeremy Brett plays n excellent Sherlock Holmes, like basil he is. Fine actor befitting of such a role. Often he is dramatic whether he shouts at Mrs Hudson for getting under his feet or trying to make a point to Lestrade. He has these like quirks or mannerisms which set him apart like clambering up. A fireplace or flinging himself to the ground with little regard for his safety or the opinions of others. I can see Holmes being like this. His Holmes does seem a very withdrawn person, often drifting into his own little World, rarely smiling and never experiencing love. The closet he comes is Irene Adler or 'The Woman' as she is referred to.

Dr Watson is played by two actors in this series firstly by David Burke and then Edward Hardwicke. They play the role as a straight man, the backbone to Holmes as opposed to blundering fool that has been portrayed prior. This is how Watson should be, the loyal and faithful assistant capable of holding the fort when Holmes is inconvenienced. I enjoy both actors but find myself drawn to David Burke more so than Edward Hardwicke. His Watson seems more light-hearted as you can see in the episode 'The Red Headed League'.

On the whole I loved this series, it is such a shame Mr Brett passed away too soon and we didn't get all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's work dramatised with Jeremy Brett in the role.

Amongst Holmes fans there is debt for who is the definitive Holmes with many favouring Basil Rathbone over Jeremy Brett and vice versa but to me combine them both and there you have the definitive Sherlock Holmes. What one man lacks the other make up for. They are too close to be separated, not forgetting their portrayals come from different times when public opinion, political opinion and cinematography was completely different. What worked for 1940's audiences may not for 1990's audiences. Basil and Jeremy combined is my definitive Holmes with David Burke and Edward Hardwicke as the loyal companion Dr John Watson.

To anyone reading this I heartily recommend you seeing some of these films, they truly are classics and you will be witnessing two of the greatest British actors to have been captured on film and believe me it is a treat.

That wraps this blog up. Hope you have enjoyed it. It is on to Disney again for me, resuming my challenge to watch all the Disney films once more for old times sake. Ooh Sherlock may make an appearance in Basil The Great Mouse Detective, some continuity for me.  

Elementary my dears.......