Jurassic Park Page #9

MALCOLM (cont'd)

The problem with scientific power you've used is it

didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read

what others had done and you took the next step. You

didn't earn the knowledge yourselves, so you don't take

the responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders

of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you

could, and before you knew what you had, you patented

it, packages it, slapped in on a plastic lunch box, and

now you want to sell it.

HAMMOND:

You don't give us our due credit. Our scientists have

done things no one could ever do before.

MALCOLM:

Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not

they could that they didn't stop to think if they

should. Science can create pesticides, but it can't

tell us not to use them. Science can make a nuclear

reactor, but it can't tell us not to build it!

HAMMOND:

But this is nature! Why not give an extinct species a

second chance?! I mean, Condors. Condors are on the

verge of extinction - - if I'd created a flock of them

on the island, you wouldn't be saying any of this!

(or)

have anything to say at all!

MALCOLM:

Hold on - - this is no species that was obliterated by

deforestation or the building of a dam. Dinosaurs had

their shot. Nature selected them for extinction.

HAMMOND:

I don't understand this Luddite attitude, especially

from a scientist. How could we stand in the light of

discovery and not act?

MALCOLM:

There's nothing that great about discovery.

(or)

What's so great about discovery? It's a violent,

penetrative act that scars what it explores. What you

call discovery I call the rape of the natural world!

GENNARO:

Please - - let's hear something from the others. Dr.

Grant? I am sorry - - Dr. Sattler?

ELLIE:

The question is - - how much can you know about an

extinct ecosystem, and therefore, how could you assume

you can control it? You have plants right here in this

building, for example, that are poisonous. You picked

them because they look pretty, but these are aggressive

living things that have no idea what century they're

living in and will defend themselves. Violently, if

necessary.

Exasperated, Hammond turns to Grant, who looks shell-shocked.

HAMMOND:

Dr. Grant, if there's one person who can appreciate all

of this - -

(or)

What am I trying to do?

But Grant speaks quietly, really thrown by all of this.

GRANT:

I feel - - elated and - - frightened and - -

(starts over)

The world has just changed so radically. We're all

running to catch up. I don't want to jump to any

conclusions, but look - -

He leans forward, a look of true concern on his face.

GRANT (cont'd)

Dinosaurs and man - - two species separated by 65

million years of evolution - - have just been suddenly

thrown back into the mix together. How can we have the

faintest idea of what to expect?

HAMMOND:

I don't believe it. I expected you to come down here

and defend me from these characters and the only one

I've got on my side it the bloodsucking lawyer!?

GENNARO:

Thank you.

One of the WAITERS whispers to Hammond.

HAMMOND:

Ah - - they're here.

GRANT:

Who?

A31INTVISITOR'S CENTER LOBBY - DAY

HAMMOND, GRANT, ELLIE, MALCOLM, and GENNARO walks out of the

restaurant and into the lobby of the visitor's center. They head down

the stairs, and pass the skeletons of the dinosaurs again.

HAMMOND:

You four are going to have a little company out in the

park. Spend a little time with our target audience.

Maybe they'll help you get the spirit of this place.

GRANT:

What does he mean by "target audience"?

Hammond turns toward the door of the center and throws his arms

out expansively.

HAMMOND:

(bellowing)

KIDS!!

Two kids standing in the doorway to the center break into a broad

smiles. TIM, the boy, is about nine years old; ALEXIX, his sister,

looks around twelve.

TIM & LEX

Grandpa!

They race across the lobby and into Hammond's arms, knocking him

over on the steps.

LEX:

We miss you.

TIM:

Thanks for the presents.

LEX:

We love the presents.

HAMMOND:

You must be careful with me. Did you like the

helicopter?

TIM:

It was great! It drops, we were dropping!

Grant looks on.

31EXTVISITOR'S CENTERDAY

Two modified Ford Explorers leap up out of an underground garage

beneath the visitor's center. They move quietly, with a faint

electronic HUM, and straddle a partially buried metal rail is the

middle of the road. They pull to a stop where the group is gathered.

Ellie is off to the side with ALEXIS, introducing herself

warmly.

HAMMOND is with MALCOLM, GRANT, and GENNARO.

HAMMOND:

Have a heart gentlemen. Their parents are getting a

divorce and they need the diversion.

GENNARO:

Hey! Where are the brakes?

HAMMOND:

Brakes? No. No brakes. They're electric cars, guided

by this track in the roadway, and totally non-polluting,

top of the line!

LEX:

It's interactive CD-ROM. Look, see - - you just touch

the right part of the screen and it talks about whatever

you want.

HAMMOND:

Spared no expense. Have fun. I'll be watching you from

the control (or) back in control.

(to Ellie)

Come along, my dear. You'll ride in the second car, I

can promise you you'll have a real wonderful time.

ELLIE:

Oh thank you so much. So you'll see you later then.

Hammond turns and head back towards the Visitor's Center.

MALCOLM:

(too eagerly; to Grant)

I'll ride with Dr. Sattler.

(or)

I'm going to ride with Dr. Sattler.

He turns and walks over to Ellie. Grant frowns, not liking this

one bit. He moves to follow, but TIM cuts him off, and stares up at

him, wide-eyed

TIM:

I read your book.

GRANT:

Oh, yeah - - great.

Grant heads for the rear car. Tim follows.

TIM:

You really think dinosaurs turned into birds? And

that's where all the dinosaurs went?

Grant opens the door of the rear car and climbs in. Tim

follows.

GRANT:

Well, uh, a few species - - may have evolved, uh - -

along those lines - - yeah.

A mechanical voice intones from inside:

VOICE:

"Two to four passengers to a car, please. Children

under ten must be accompanied by an adult."

Tim is right behind Grant, so Grant keeps moving, across the

back seat of the car and out the other door. But Tim follows.

TIM:

Because they sure don't look like birds to me. I heard

a meteor hit the earth and made like this one hundred

mile crater someplace down in Mexico - -

GRANT:

Listen, ahh - -

TIM:

Tim.

GRANT:

Tim. Which car were you planning on - -

TIM:

Whichever one you are.

Grant goes to the front car again, opens the rear door, and

holds it for Tim, who climbs in the back seat, rattling on and on.

TIM:

Then I head about this thing in OMNI? About the meteor

making all this heat that made a bunch of diamond dust?

And that changed the weather and they died because of

the weather? Then my teacher told me about this other

book by a guy named Bakker? And he said the dinosaurs

died of a bunch of diseases.

SLAM! Grant closes the car door on Tim. He turns and head for

the rear vehicle - -

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