Unearthing the Past: Exploring the Jurassic Inspirations in G.I. Joe’s ‘Primordial Plot
Welcome to The Outpost. Today I’m taking a look at the 1985 G.I. Joe Cartoon episode 42, “Primordial Plot”. This is the episode where Cobra Commander steals dinosaur bones from a dig site and then proceeds to snag Dr. Massey who just cloned a snake. Cobra Commander wants Massey to clone him his own personal army of dinosaurs. They go to a remote hidden island to test and see if dinosaurs can be cloned. So this is an interesting episode and could have very well been the inspiration for the blockbuster movie Jurassic Park.
The episode certainly lays down a strong foundation for the idea of the original film. The episode uses a mixture of original characters like Roadblock and Gung-Ho and ads in new characters like Flint and Airtight. The secluded island looks very much like the island used in Jurassic Park. Dr Massey also mentions calling his investors with cross eyes from the Joes. The next season off GI Joe goes right into DNA and cloning Serpentor. Another hard feed for the Jurassic Park, but what If Jurassic Park was actually Dr. Massey’s invention and John Hammond took it over and capitalized on the idea. We all know throughout history many people took credit for inventing or discovering something that they didn’t.
Hammond could have been working with Massey and stole the show. I think if you look at the eighties Joes episodes, they took a lot from other movies and tv shows and inspired a lot of movies and shows like Jurassic Park. The dinosaur design in this GI Joe episode was definitely the one they used for the 1993 Dino Hunter mission pack. It is a bit odd shaped. Kenner definitely perfected the look of the T-Rex with there 1993 version. Overall this was a cool episode and really got me thinking how cool
It would have been, to be a part of this team creating cartoons and figures. What do you all think of this episode? Make sure to check back next week for the next discussion at The Outpost.
