Jurassic Park 20th Anniversary

The third and final instalment was released in 2001, this time directed by Joe Johnston and based on an original screenplay. It involved the return of Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neill), who is engaged by a wealthy couple Paul and Amanda Kirby (William H. Macy and Tea Leone) to give them a personal aerial tour to see the dinosaurs of Isla Sorna. Unfortunately, Grant is duped; the Kirbys are not rich tourists and intend to land on the island to search for their teenage son who was lost there after a paragliding mishap. The plane is wrecked, and Grant has to lead the party through the dinosaur overrun island. While they find the boy, several of the party are killed by a particularly nasty, sail-backed predator called Spinosaurus.

This time around the franchise went to the giant toy company Hasbro. As there were no vehicles featured in the film, which is mainly about people trying to escape an island of dinosaurs, it is hard to see how there could be any diecast models based on it. Hasbro appears to have copied the Matchbox concept, with a range of capture and transport vehicles with human and dinosaur figures included. Unfortunately, the quality is pretty awful. The vehicles are largely plastic with few diecast components, and have really cheap looking speedwheels. The dinosaurs are plastic, as are the men, although these have articulated arms and legs.

Transport with Capture Cage
This generic bonneted truck is painted silver-grey and has a rear cage that flips up and a roof-mounted computer console. It comes with a brown dimetrodon figure.

Capture Transport
Another generic truck, this is a black cabover carrying an extremely tall cage in silver grey plastic with drop-down sides, and comes with an oversized brown Velociraptor.

Mobile Command Centre
A military style truck in olive drab, this has an array of computers in the rear bed, plus a rotating seat and extendable grappling arm. Included are a beige gallimimus and a mercenary with rocket launcher.

Pick-up Truck with Capture Rod
This weird set had an olive pick-up with a strange roof-mounted sliding rail that is supposedly for catching pteranodons by the neck.

Helicopter with Net
An unusual looking helicopter with a pair of drop down arms to lower a mesh met onto a blue and brown triceratops. The chopper also has a pair of oversized, ineffectual pop-out missiles.

ATV with Grappling Hook
Completely out of scale with the other models, this ATV has a removable, helmeted rider figure. The action feature is totally implausible; a thin grappling arm is supposed to catch a baby triceratops, which is actually the same moulding as the one with the helicopter, but now in tan with brown spots.

EXTINCT
All the models are now out of production, but they do turn up fairly often at toy fairs and on the internet for affordable prices. So it’s possible to build up your own Jurassic Park with a range of vehicles and dinosaurs! It will be interesting to see if the proposed fourth film in the series inspires any new models.

This is an extract from the June issue of Collectors Gazette, in which Mike looks through collectables inspired by the Jurassic Park trilogy. Either pick up your copy in stores from 17th May or order online.

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