In 1993, Steven Spielberg and Michael Crichton teamed up to introduce the world to an adventure 65 million years in the making. With the release of Jurassic Park, audiences were brought to a modern world where dinosaurs roamed the earth, and where Jello was an effective early warning sign of danger. No one knows this better than actor Ariana Richards and, after almost three decades, she was brought back to recreate her famous sci-fi movie scene.
By re-enacting this classic scene for an official Jurassic World TikTok, Richards was helping to celebrate the film’s upcoming 30th anniversary. And as you can see in the footage included, she hasn’t lost her touch with conveying quivering fear through quaking gelatin:
@jurassicworld
♬ original sound – Jurassic World
Watching this tribute to the movie’s enduring legacy is fun, but also a little bittersweet. While Ariana Richards was up for a Jurassic World return, along with her co-star/on-screen Joseph Mazzello, we sadly did not get to see Lex and Tim make a grand re-entrance to the franchise. As so many other threads and characters factored prominently into last year’s Dominion, hopes were high for a potential inclusion of the brave kids that were on hand for this first brush with prehistoric terror.
Though that’s not to say that the employment of Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum to carry the original movie’s legacy was an unappreciated gesture. It was still pretty wild to see the trio of adults that sat in the heart of the Jurassic legacy back on the big screen. Equally crazy is the fact that thanks to the changes made to Jurassic Park’s child characters, Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello were able to be cast in their respective roles.
Were the movie to have stayed true to Michael Crichton’s original vision for Lex and Tim, the hierarchy would have changed and Lex would have been the younger sibling; which would have thrown off the casting we eventually got. In which case, we wouldn’t have gotten the former child actress’ masterful manipulation of a moving meal.
It’s insane how perfect the star’s recreation of her iconic Jurassic moment plays out. Thinking about seeing her freak out over the invasion of Velociraptors into a space that was supposed to be safe for the first time brings back memories. With just a gradual change of her facial expression and a spoon full of dessert, Ariana Richards helped craft a moment that still stands as one of the most memorable scenes in one of the most popular movies since 1970. If that’s not Chaos Theory, then I don’t know what is.
As Jurassic Park turns 30, fans are going to want to celebrate. If you can’t make it to a Universal Studios park to partake in that delicious-looking Jeff Goldblum brownie, you can always do the next best thing: revisit the 1993 classic in the comfort of home! At the time of this writing, a Peacock subscription is all your life needs to find a way into the original trilogy.