With the monstrousbox officesuccess ofJurassic World, which has earned over $1.6 billion worldwide, the franchise is more popular than ever. It may surprise some fans to learn that, after the initial success ofJurassic Park, Universal Cartoon Studios was developing an animated TV series, but, surprisingly, it never got off the ground. Concept artist William Stout has posted a number of his own illustrations from the proposed series on hisofficial website, with all of these pieces available for purchase.FromDirectorStevenSpielberg.tumblr.comalso discovered a post from 2014, where the artist spoke about the trailer for the series, and why it never came to pass.
“Although I own a copy, I don’t think this trailer is available anywhere. Upon the success ofSteven Spielberg’sJurassic Parkmovie, all kinds of ancillary projects abounded: toys, games, novelties, apparel, etc. Towards the end of all of this merchandising I got a call from artist Will Meugniot, asking if I’d be interested in designing aJurassic Parkanimated series. This was not going to be a kiddy show (although kids of all ages, including myself, could enjoy it). They wanted the show to be a mature prime time series with top writers and state-of-the-art television animation augmented with quite a bit of CG animation. Universal Cartoon Studios wanted a “graphic novel look” to the series.”
William Stout’s illustrations showcase a number of the mainJurassic Parkcharacters such as Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ellie Satler (Laura Dern), Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), Tim (Joseph Mazzello) and Lex (Ariana Richards). He also has illustrations featuringdinosaurssuch as the mosasaur, plesiosaur, pterodactyl and young hypsilophodon baby dinosaurs. Here’s what the artist had to say about why the series never saw the light of day.
“I came in, showed my portfolio and was hired. We made a trailer to communicate the look and feel of the series, also showing how we would combine computer animation with traditional animation. All we needed wasSpielberg’s approval. I heard through the grapevine that he never bothered to watch what we had done. By that time the word was out that he was burnt out onJurassic Parkmerchandising and all of the film’s commercial exploitation. So, it never got made. Too bad.”
If you’re interested in purchasing these pieces, you can visitWilliamStout.com/Journalfor more information, and to check out the rest of the illustrations. Would you have liked to seen aJurassic Parkanimated TV series on the small screen in the mid-1990s? Let us know what you think after checking out these images.
