| Dr. Alan Grant | |
|---|---|
 Close up of Grant from Jurassic Park. | |
| First Episode Appearance | Jurassic Park |
| Final Episode Appearance | Jurassic Park 3 |
| Created by | Michael Crichton |
| Character played by | Sam Neill |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Paleontologist |
| Nationality | American |
Dr. Alan Grant is a fictional character and the primary protagonist of Michael Crichton's 1990 science fiction novel Jurassic Park. In both the novel and film adaptations, Alan Grant is said to be one of the world's foremost paleontologists, specializing in Hadrosaurs and other duck-billed dinosaurs, such as Maiasaura. The partial inspiration for Dr. Alan Grant is famous paleontologist Jack Horner. In the films, the character was portrayed by Sam Neill and he appears in the first and third films of the Jurassic Park franchise. His film persona has elements similar to adventure hero Indiana Jones, such as the fact that he is commonly shown wearing a hat.
History[]
Jurassic Park[]
In Jurassic Park, Dr. Grant is first approached by John Hammond, the eccentric billionaire and Jurassic Park's creator, to take a tour of the park and endorse it so his investors would be more confident. Finding it hard to turn down a request from a major financial donor, Grant agrees, unaware that Hammond has managed to clone real dinosaurs. When the creatures escape, Grant becomes stranded in the park with Hammond's grandchildren. Throughout the novel, Alan and the two kids explore the park trying to find their way back to the rest of the group. In the film, much of this time is omitted, with only a few key events occurring on screen.
The Lost World[]
In The Lost World, he makes only one appearance, proposing a theory that the Tyrannosaurus couldn't function in rainy climates and writing off fellow paleontologist Richard Levine's questions about rumors surrounding InGen cloning dinosaurs as "absurd". However, in the film, he's neither seen nor mentioned.
Jurassic Park III[]
In Jurassic Park III, in the years since Jurassic Park, Dr. Grant has continued his research on raptors and has proposed theories regarding Velociraptor intelligence. Grant reluctantly agrees to join a wealthy couple for an aerial tour of Isla Sorna, Jurassic Park's 'Site B,' in exchange for funding for his dig site. Due to a plane crash, however, Grant and the others become stranded on the island. While navigating the island, much to his dismay, he realizes that his theories about Velociraptors were correct. He discovers that the raptors have advanced intelligence and communication abilities. He manages to escape the island via a rescue operation headed by Ellie Sattler.
Portrayal in films and novel[]
In the novel, Grant is described as a barrel-chested, bearded man with a strong affinity for children, especially ones interested in dinosaurs. The first film portrays Alan with a much different personality than his one in the novel. In the films, Dr. Grant has an introverted personality and doesn't like children. Throughout the first film, however, he warms to the two children accompanying him, Lex and Tim. This was done because Spielberg wanted to "provide a source of dramatic tension that did not exist in the novel".[citation needed] He specializes in Velociraptors, and believes that birds are closely related to dinosaurs. His experience on the island changes his view of children (and dinosaurs) and he decides not to endorse Jurassic Park.
However, in the novel, he loves children and tries his best to protect them in their journey back to the Visitor's Center. Instead of specializing in raptors, he specializes in Hadrosaurs and duck-billed dinosaurs; he was the first to come up with descriptions of the Maiasaura, and was one of the few survivors who had encountered a Velociraptor on Isla Nublar.
In the Jurassic Park universe, Grant is credited with having written at least two popular books on dinosaurs. In both Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, his works are referenced by Tim Murphy and Eric Kirby, respectively.
Relationship with Ellie Sattler[]
In the novel, Grant and Sattler never had a romantic relationship as she was already engaged to a doctor. Instead, Sattler was a graduate student under him and a paleobotanist during the Isla Nublar incident.
In the first film, Dr. Grant is shown to have a romantic relationship with Ellie Sattler in which they both help each other when they were stranded on the park and at one time talked about having kids. There was a deleted scene in which Grant and Sattler shared a kiss.
However, Lewis Dodgson had hired Ed James to follow her and James found out that she was "involved" with Alan. It's up to interpretation whether James meant professionally or romantically. James reported that she gave long dull speeches about prehistoric pollen at one of her lectures. He also informs Dodgson that she married a physicist at Berkeley named Reiman and had two young children, a son and daughter.
In Jurassic Park III, Alan and Ellie are shown to have separated possibly during or before the previous film's events. She is married to Mark Degler, a U.S. State Department employee, who she lives with in Washington, D.C. with their two children. Although their romance had ended, Alan and Ellie remained very close friends. As a result of their long history together, she appeared to still care deeply for him, telling him that he was still the best in his field and that he could call her about anything at anytime. The call later proves to be of invaluable use when Grant and a group of people are stranded on the island, and Ellie calls the authorities to their rescue.
Alan's books[]
In the various canons of the Jurassic Park series, Alan writes a number of books, of at least the first two it is Tim's book in the movies clear that they had become popular.
The Lost World of the Dinosaurs[]
It's clear from the first film that Dr. Grant argued in this book that dinosaurs evolved into birds. It was also fully illustrated. In Jurassic Park Adventures: Survivor, a couple of quotes from the book appear:
When (the sauropods) ate North America empty, to travelled south to South America until that was empty. They just ate themselves out of existence.
Many scientists believe the dinosaurs never really died out 65 million years ago. These scientists believe dinosaurs live on today - as birds. The dinosaurs were too large and their food supply is too small, so the dinosaurs became a likely example of natural selection - in short, they were forced to adapt or perish.
Book about Jurassic Park[]
In Jurassic Park III, Eric mentions a book that Alan wrote about the Isla Nublar incident. Eric sensed from this book that Alan somewhat disliked dinosaurs after the incident.
Pteranodon book[]
At the end of Jurassic Park Adventures: Flyers, Alan says he's planning to write a book about Pteranodons and their attack of Universal Studios.
Appearance in games[]
Jurassic Park inspired games[]
- Alan is the main playable character in the Jurassic Park SNES game. His appearance is based on his one in the first film. He's armed with a gun.
- He's also playable in the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis game alongside the Velociraptor.
- He's the main playable character in The Lost World: Jurassic Park handheld game
- He's again playable in Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues and Jurassic Park III: Island Attack.
- He appears in Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis where he's in charge of the fossil hunting teams and fossil market. He will inform the player of any new discoveries, shipments in the fossil market and related news.
- He makes a cameo appearance in the ending of the arcade Jurassic Park game.
- He's a playable character in the Jurassic Park mobile game, alongside Malcolm.
- He's one of the characters to appear in the apple app, Jurassic Park Builder.
Jurassic Park: The Game[]
In Telltale's Jurassic Park: The Game, Grant is mentioned in the first episode as one of the paleontologists to inspect the park.