Super Safi’s Monday Morning Musings 100 – Jurassic Park

Morning Musically-Minded, Medically-Minded, Masticators!

(Today’s post is sponsored by the letter “M”)

Over the past 600+ episodes, The Simpsons has taken us on an amazing journey involving music, science, and food to name a few concepts.

And what better way to start your week, than by discussing some of these concepts Monday morning?

So let’s get started this week by talking about a classic novel and movie.

In the one hundredth episode of The Simpsons, Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Baadasssss Song (Season 05, Episode 19), it’s Show and Tell time for Bart’s class and he brings Santa’s Little Helper to school.

But when Santa’s Little Helper get’s caught in the vents, Principal Skinner sends Groundskeeper Willie to go get him out. When Superintendent Chalmers comes to the school for a surprise visit, a greased up Willie leads Chalmers to fire Skinner.

Skinner struggles in his new role without his old job. He originally decides to work on his novel, until Apu turns him off of it.

Principal Skinner: “Well, maybe it was for the best. Now I finally have time to do what I’ve always wanted – write the great American novel. Mine is about a futuristic amusement park, where dinosaurs are brought to life through advanced cloning techniques. I call it Billy and the Clone-o-Saurus.”

Apu: “Oh, you have got to be kidding, Sir! First, you think of an idea that has already been done. Then you give it a title that nobody could possibly like. Didn’t you think this…”

[minutes later, still livid at Skinner’s idea]: “…on the best-seller list for eighteen months! Every magazine cover has…”

[yet another few minutes later] “…ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR MOVIES OF ALL TIME, SIR! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?”

[pauses, then calms down]: “I mean thank you, come again.”

Skinner briefly re-enlists in the army before Bart helps him get his job back.

But have you ever wondered what novel Skinner’s “Billy and the Clone-o-Saurus” were copying?

Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park is a 1990 science fiction novel written by Michael Crichton. A cautionary tale about genetic engineering, it presents the collapse of an amusement park showcasing genetically re-created dinosaurs to illustrate the mathematical concept of chaos theory and its real-world implications.

A sequel titled The Lost World, also written by Crichton, was published in 1995. In 1997, both novels were re-published as a single book titled Michael Crichton’s Jurassic World.

A 1993 film based on the book directed by Steven Spielberg became the highest grossing movie of all time.

Michael Crichton (October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008)

Michael received an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1969 but did not practice medicine, choosing to focus on his writing instead. Initially writing under a pseudonym, he eventually wrote 26 novels, including The Andromeda Strain (1969), The Terminal Man (1972), The Great Train Robbery (1975), Congo (1980), Sphere (1987), Jurassic Park (1990), Rising Sun (1992), Disclosure (1994), The Lost World (1995), Airframe (1996), Timeline (1999), Prey (2002), State of Fear (2004), and Next (2006).

Now that we’ve learned more about Jurassic Park, be sure to come back next week when we continue our Monday morning musings with the next episode of The Simpsons.

Did you remember the episode? What’s your favourite Skinner-centric episode of The Simpsons? What about your favourite episode where Bart and Skinner feud or team up? What about your favourite The Simpsons book reference? Were you familiar with Jurassic Park, the book? Have you ever read Jurassic Park? Have you seen any of the movies? Sound off in the comments below. You know we love hearing from you.