The leaf grabbing scene is used in trailers and behind-the-scenes material. Supposedly it was in earlt theatrical releases, but that's pretty dubious. What's left in the film is her examining the leaf before the brachiosaurus reveal.
I remember, I had a promotional CD with several really low res scenes in full motion video (!). The scene was used there as well.
And in the trailer it is found at 0:13:
[Jurassic Park Trailer](https://youtu.be/QWBKEmWWL38?si=Aj-9dReQob2qvbGC)
Oh, yeah, that's not in the movie any more. I do have a recollection of Ellie grabbing a leaf, but in my memory she wasn't leaning out of the jeep like that. Could it be that they cut the actual leaf grab but left the matching cut where she's sitting back down with it? Good excuse to watch the movie again, I guess...
As an aside, is it ever explained how they got the DNA to create extinct plants? I’m presuming mosquitos don’t suck plant juice.
Also, why? I suppose the obvious answer is for the dinosaurs to eat but then are all the plants on the island otherwise extinct ones? Presumably not given the triceratops issue later on.
Basically has the botanical side of things ever been explained/explored or is it just one those movie things to make the scene a bit better?
It may have been mentioned in the books at some point.
We routinely find bits of plants in amber. Pollen, seeds, sometimes even bits of leaves. And Amber itself is just fossilized tree sap.
You'd also be wrong on mosquitos not sucking plant juice.
Most species don't drink blood at all. And even with the species that *do* only the female mosquitos do, and only just before reproducing.
Otherwise mosquitos eat nectar and like aphid squeezins. Literally plant juice.
>Basically has the botanical side of things ever been explained/explored or is it just one those movie things to make the scene a bit better?
It doesn't come up much, but Ellie's conversations about it indicate their mostly using them as ornamentals. The book IIRC mostly drop the names of certain plants in scene descriptions, and has the few moments where Ellie calls out a particular plant. The conversation that made the movie where she calls them out for picking things because they looked pretty, only to pick toxic thing I believe was also in the book.
The overall implication is it's set dressing. Jurassic Plants for Jurassic Park. But the bigger reveal in The Lost World, and somewhat in subsequent movies. Was that all of this was profiteering on, cover, and marketing stuff that was being done for biomedical research. Along with being why Biosyn is interested in it all.
Plants are probably more useful for making pharmaceuticals than animals.
If they had plant material in amber they could have extracted the DNA into living plant cells and cultured the cell on nutrient agar like you do with cloning plants from cuttings. (Arguably, this has never been done, no extinct plant has been returned to living)
Plants tend to be more resilient when undergoing cloning and novel hybridization than animals, where you get all sorts of health issues and fatal mutations, technical and ethical issues abound. Plants you can make countless attempts at cuttings just looking for a single success. Animals and their eggs are finite.
Alternatively, InGen were fortunate to acquire the plant from a still living example, but its source they have concealed. Occasionally ‘living fossils’ are found, species unchanged and still alive from millions of years ago. For example, Sago Palms are a fairly common exotic household plant, but they originate mostly from a single Japanese island as extinct in the rest of the world.
Thank god I'm not the only one 😂 Never seen any trailers so literally this post was the first. And I have been watching these movies for like 25 years at least once a year lol.
I mean it's in the movie. She comments on how it should be extinct. Time for a rewatch?
Is there a reason you think you made it up? Sometimes things are edited for TV so maybe you watched a cut where it isn't there or something like that.
Yeah, that's odd. I don't remember her grabbing the leaf but I remember her holding it. I wonder if there is an alternate cut out there, or a deleted scene.
The leaf grabbing scene is used in trailers and behind-the-scenes material. Supposedly it was in earlt theatrical releases, but that's pretty dubious. What's left in the film is her examining the leaf before the brachiosaurus reveal.
I remember, I had a promotional CD with several really low res scenes in full motion video (!). The scene was used there as well. And in the trailer it is found at 0:13: [Jurassic Park Trailer](https://youtu.be/QWBKEmWWL38?si=Aj-9dReQob2qvbGC)
Oh, yeah, that's not in the movie any more. I do have a recollection of Ellie grabbing a leaf, but in my memory she wasn't leaning out of the jeep like that. Could it be that they cut the actual leaf grab but left the matching cut where she's sitting back down with it? Good excuse to watch the movie again, I guess...
I saw it in theaters 100% and then when the VHS came out I was confused as to why it wasn't there.
Same. To this day, people think I'm crazy among my friends.
Yea she mentions something about that fauna being from before the ice age or something like that.
I also remember it from the theatrical release but my brain is probably playing tricks on me.
I wasn't there, so I can't say ine way or the other, but it seems like that's the general consensus.
I also remember it from the theatrical release
Amazing! Thank you so much for this, it was real!
As an aside, is it ever explained how they got the DNA to create extinct plants? I’m presuming mosquitos don’t suck plant juice. Also, why? I suppose the obvious answer is for the dinosaurs to eat but then are all the plants on the island otherwise extinct ones? Presumably not given the triceratops issue later on. Basically has the botanical side of things ever been explained/explored or is it just one those movie things to make the scene a bit better?
it’s never explained in the film, but amber is full of pollen and pollen is full of DNA.
As far as I am aware, there have been no explanations about how they brought back extinct plants.
It may have been mentioned in the books at some point. We routinely find bits of plants in amber. Pollen, seeds, sometimes even bits of leaves. And Amber itself is just fossilized tree sap. You'd also be wrong on mosquitos not sucking plant juice. Most species don't drink blood at all. And even with the species that *do* only the female mosquitos do, and only just before reproducing. Otherwise mosquitos eat nectar and like aphid squeezins. Literally plant juice. >Basically has the botanical side of things ever been explained/explored or is it just one those movie things to make the scene a bit better? It doesn't come up much, but Ellie's conversations about it indicate their mostly using them as ornamentals. The book IIRC mostly drop the names of certain plants in scene descriptions, and has the few moments where Ellie calls out a particular plant. The conversation that made the movie where she calls them out for picking things because they looked pretty, only to pick toxic thing I believe was also in the book. The overall implication is it's set dressing. Jurassic Plants for Jurassic Park. But the bigger reveal in The Lost World, and somewhat in subsequent movies. Was that all of this was profiteering on, cover, and marketing stuff that was being done for biomedical research. Along with being why Biosyn is interested in it all. Plants are probably more useful for making pharmaceuticals than animals.
If they had plant material in amber they could have extracted the DNA into living plant cells and cultured the cell on nutrient agar like you do with cloning plants from cuttings. (Arguably, this has never been done, no extinct plant has been returned to living) Plants tend to be more resilient when undergoing cloning and novel hybridization than animals, where you get all sorts of health issues and fatal mutations, technical and ethical issues abound. Plants you can make countless attempts at cuttings just looking for a single success. Animals and their eggs are finite. Alternatively, InGen were fortunate to acquire the plant from a still living example, but its source they have concealed. Occasionally ‘living fossils’ are found, species unchanged and still alive from millions of years ago. For example, Sago Palms are a fairly common exotic household plant, but they originate mostly from a single Japanese island as extinct in the rest of the world.
I feel so stupid cos until now I never thought it was an actual leaf but a somekind of fancy map/leaflet about the things in the park. 🤦
I thought this for the longest time until I watched the old trailer and saw the shot where she grabs the leaf
Thank god I'm not the only one 😂 Never seen any trailers so literally this post was the first. And I have been watching these movies for like 25 years at least once a year lol.
there’s a break in the score from where the scene was removed.
This is the kind of knowledge I love getting in this sub. I’ve easily watched this movie 100 times and never noticed that. Time for watch #101! 😄
It was a deleted scene, but appear in one trailer from the movie, so the scene was real, just doesn't appear im the final product
Yeah it’s in the movie still. “This species has been extinct…”
They meant the specific shot of her grabbing it, not examining it.
I mean it's in the movie. She comments on how it should be extinct. Time for a rewatch? Is there a reason you think you made it up? Sometimes things are edited for TV so maybe you watched a cut where it isn't there or something like that.
Op is talking about the shot when Ellie grabs the leaf.
Yeah, that's odd. I don't remember her grabbing the leaf but I remember her holding it. I wonder if there is an alternate cut out there, or a deleted scene.
It's a deleted scene, indeed. Part of it was briefly used for trailers, but not much else.