Concept Art For Unaired JURASSIC PARK Animated Television Series
The '90s were one helluva time to be a kid with excellent TV shows for Spider-Man, the X-Men, Superman, Batman, Power Rangers, & more on the air, but would you have watched an animated series based on the hit 1993 film Jurassic Park? Sure, you would've! Come check it out!
Twenty-two years before Jurassic World ruled the summer of 2015, the original Jurassic Park absolutely dominated the summer of 1993.
Over the years, the Steven Spielberg-directed masterpiece has received a variety of tie-ins that included three (soon to be four) sequels, video games, toys, board games, books, food products, posters, and more, but one of the things it never received was a small-screen adaptation of any sort. However, based on some recently released concept art, it seems as though someone definitely tried to get something off the ground a while back.
Conceptual artist William Stout has recently been releasing concept art from an unaired animated series pilot based on the hit film. The only thing that kept this "mature" Jurassic Park animated series from seeing the light of day was that Spielberg didn't give it the go-ahead.
Read Stout's note about the series below:
Although I own a copy, I don’t think this trailer is available anywhere.
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.
Too bad indeed and considering the immense popularity of the original film, it's hard not to imagine how popular this potential series may have been. Would you have watched a Jurassic Park animated series in the mid-90s? Sound off with your thoughts in the usual spot and check out Stout's cool concept art below!