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There Was Going to Be A ‘Jurassic Park’ Animated Series
The 1990’s were the golden age of Saturday morning cartoons. The only thing that could have taken it to new heights would have been an animated series based on Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park.
It was planned, artist William Stout reveals, sharing a handful of concepts from the JP series with From Director Steven Spielberg Tumblr.
“Upon the success of Steven Spielberg’s ‘Jurassic Park’ movie, 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 a ‘Jurassic Park’ animated 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. 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 was Spielberg’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 on ‘Jurassic Park’ merchandising and all of the film’s commercial exploitation. So, it never got made.
Too bad.”
It’s brutal to hear that all this work was done and nobody took the time to even take a look, although the concept of doing something more for adults fits into what cartoons were always about (they weren’t made for kids, originally). And cartoons back then were awesome – I have no doubt this would have been badass, too.
Oh, and there’s a bonus. Check out a trio of concepts for the official Jurassic Park poster!
Images via William Stout
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.
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