Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Lost Worlds

The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1912)

Scientist no one quite believes: Professor George Edward Challenger
Location of the lost world: A plateau in the Amazon jungle
Primary explorers: Challenger, journalist Ed Mallone, professor of comparative anatomy Summerlee, sportsman Lord John Roxton
Species encountered: Iguanadons, pterodactyls, stegosaurus, three-eyed ichthyosaurus, plesiosaurs, Irish elk, toad-faced hopping carnivorous dinosaurs (probably allosaurus), anthropoid apes, diminutive native homo sapien "Indians"
Dinosaur brought back to civilization: Pterodactyl
Civilization: London


The Lost World directed by Harry O. Hoyt (1925)

Scientist no one quite believes: Professor Challenger
Location of the lost world: A plateau in the Amazon jungle
Primary explorers: Challenger, sportsman and adventurer Sir John Roxton, journalist Edward E. Mallone, Professor Summerlee, Paula White, monkey Jocko the Monkey
Species encountered: Pterodactyl, allosaurus, triceratops, trachodon, oviraptor, brontosaurus, ape men
Dinosaur brought back to civilization: An apparently carnivorous brontosaurus
Civilization: London


Lost World by Osamu Tezuka (1948-ish)

Scientist no one quite believes: nil
Location of the lost world: The planet Mamango, a small planet that broke off from Earth millions of years ago and the orbit of which brings it close to earth only once every five million years.
Primary explorers: Detective Shunsako “Mr. Mustachio” Bun, rabbit-with-a-human-brain Mimio, scientists Dr. Kenichi Shinkisama Dr. Makeru Butamo,butler Hanawa, reporter Acetylene Lamp, plant women Ayame and Momiji
Species encountered: Unidentified sauropods, a carnivorous stegosaurus, pterosaur, triceratops, Tyrannosaurus Rex, a giant snake, some form of bipedal carnivorous pack dinosaur
Dinosaur brought back to civilization: nil
Civilization: Earth


The Lost World: Jurassic Park directed by Steven Spielberg (1997)

Scientist no one quite believes: Dr. Ian Malcom
Location of the lost world: Isla Sorna, a small island near Costa Rica
Primary explorers: Malcolm, Malcolm’s daughter, paleontologist Dr. Sarah Harding, photographer/environmental activist Nick Van Owen, technology expert Eddie Carr, hunter Roland Tembo, an small army of dinosaur fodder
Species encountered: Tyrannosaurus Rex, compsognathus, stegosaurus, triceratops, velociraptors, Parasaurolophus, Pachycephalosaurus, Gallimimus Mamenchisaurus
Dinosaur brought back to civilization: Tyrannosaurus Rex
Civilization: San Diego

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Sorna is supposed to be near Costa Rica, unfortunately, not Guatemala

Caleb said...

There's America, and there's everything else, right?

I'll fix that. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Interesting list - I always think there are not enough dinosaurs in these movies - I was hoping that there would be a movie or tv movie based on Raptor Red which is nothing but dinosaurs, but alas... also, that's not set in a lost world, just in our world's past.

Hdefined said...

I love Tezuka, but man, Lost World is crap. Granted, it's his chronologically earliest work to come to western shores, but it's not worth buying, let alone reading, for anyone besides the most hardcore Tezuka fans.

And even then, it's still crap.

Anonymous said...

The Spielberg "Lost World" was, of course, the Jurrasic Park sequel. The novel sequel was simply called "The Lost World", and unlike the first book I preferred the movie. (I found the first JP book more interesting than the movie.)

Anonymous said...

The civilization to which the Tyrannosaurus Rex was brought at the end of The Lost World: Jurassic Park was San Diego, not Los Angeles.

Bella's owner said...

Oh yeah. Jesus. That's a lot of mistakes for like 350 words...

Anonymous said...

James Robinson killed off Ventriloquist, not Dini.