Toyota Land Cruiser Got Dino-Sized Shaft in ‘Jurassic Park’ Movie

By adpock - June 24, 2015

1993 Toyota Land Cruiser

Is there anything more irksome than a major motion picture that fails to deliver key parts of the novel it’s based upon? Well, Jurassic Park may be a classic, and a global box office phenomenon as well, but I’m not sure if I can think of a more critical detail to botch. I may not be able to forgive Steven Spielberg for this one.

According to the keen-eyed folks over at Bold Ride, the Jeeps and Explorers that gained oh so much popularity after being featured in Spielberg’s mega hit, were actually Toyota Land Cruisers in the book written by Michael Crichton.

“A line of Toyota Land Cruisers came out of an underground garage beneath the visitor center. Each car pulled up, driverless and silent,” wrote Crichton in his 1990 sci-fi novel.

So you see, indeed it was the venerable Land Cruiser, the LX’s first cousin, that ferried folks to dino attractions around the doomed park. Of course, a lot of those Land Cruiser’s ended up as playthings for the T-Rex. But still, a Land Cruiser obviously puts up a much better fight than an Explorer or a Jeep.

Bold Ride says that Spielberg never mentions why he went with Jeeps and Explorers instead of Land Cruisers, though they venture to guess that it was just “personal preference.” But how anyone could prefer either of those cars over a Land Cruiser seems strange. It had to be a product placement deal, much like the one Mercedes has with the latest film in the franchise, Jurassic World.

Whatever the reason, it’s such a big gaffe, that perhaps Spielberg should consider a refund of $4.14, the average price of tickets back in 1993, to everyone who attended. And he should go ahead and give me $16.56, seeing as I saw it four times in theaters. After the ridiculous success of Jurassic World, he can obviously afford it.

But until that happens, to ease the pain, let’s all take a second to watch the video below of the Jurassic Park T-Rex turning an Explorer into shrapnel.