1452: Jurassic World

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Jurassic World
Hey guys! What's eating you? Ha ha ha it's me! Oh, what fun we have.
Title text: Hey guys! What's eating you? Ha ha ha it's me! Oh, what fun we have.

Explanation[edit]

This strip refers to Jurassic World, the then new Jurassic Park movie, and the titular theme park. White Hat explains to Megan that, in their park, they have genetically engineered a better Tyrannosaurus. Megan doesn't feel that the historic Tyrannosaurus can be improved upon, but White Hat insists they've created an even more terrifying, smarter Tyrannosaurus for this new park.

White Hat refers to Tyrannosaurus as "two decades old", indicating that he has switched topics from the movie's plot line to the animation techniques that created the Tyrannosaurus on-screen in 1993 versus today. Clearly, in the computer animation world, we should be able to create something more convincing with modern technology. Megan comments that she is fairly certain it is older than two decades, suggesting that she is referring to the actual Tyrannosaurus that lived millions of years ago.

In the final panel, White Hat introduces the "new" Tyrannosaurus, who is immediately recognizable as the green Tyrannosaurus from Ryan North's Dinosaur Comics; specifically, from the last panel of said webcomic - which in turn is from clip art. Anyone who has read so much as a handful of Dinosaur Comics will know that its Tyrannosaurus character "T-Rex" is about as far from smart and scary as it is possible for a Tyrannosaurus to be (see this example from the day this comic was released).

The title text is an example of what T-Rex (the character) would say to a couple of humans, and it's a poor joke which would only be funny when it's a talking T-Rex saying it. Despite his goofy mannerisms, he is still a carnivore who attacks (or at least accidentally steps on) humans, as can be seen in panel 3 and 4 of the webcomic.

Transcript[edit]

[White Hat holding one hand up in front om him and Megan are walking together.]
White Hat: In Jurassic World, we've used genetic engineering to create a better dinosaur.
Megan: Tyrannosaurus is the most charismatic animal that ever lived, and you think you'll upstage it?
[White Hat now holds both his hands up in front of him as he and Megan walk on.]
White Hat: Tyrannosaurus was cool, but it's two decades old!
Megan: I think it's a little older than that.
[In this frame-less panel White Hat points up as they continue to walk.]
White Hat: We took Tyrannosaurus and we improved it. Made it scarier, deadlier, smarter.
White Hat: Look–there it is!
[White Hat (drawn without his hat) and Megan are dwarfed in the bottom left corner as they stare up at a facsimile of the green T-Rex from Dinosaur Comics. They only reach T-Rex to it's knees.]

Trivia[edit]

  • In the last panel Randall forgot to draw White Hat's hat so he looks like Cueball, but from the first panel where White Hat walks with Megan and points up at the Dinosaur, it is clear that it is those two characters that are standing beneath it in this last panel.

The entire Dinosaur Comics was parodied in 145: Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics, where Randall copied the drawings himself, and T-Rex has appeared in one of the story lines in 1350: Lorenz (see this example story line and also the Dinosaur section under Lorenz themes), where the actual images from the first three panels of Ryan's comic are used, just like here where it is the last panel which is used.


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Discussion

Uh ... maybe, just maybe, is Megan referring to the ACTUAL tyrannosaurus, the animal which lived several millions years ago? -- Hkmaly (talk) 11:47, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

Any reason why "white hat" is not wearing his hat in the final panel? 173.245.54.194 12:20, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

Good catch. Jarod997 (talk) 14:31, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
none that I feel confident about - perhaps the T-Rex ate it or blew it off swinging his tail around? -- Brettpeirce (talk) 14:35, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
Logical reason: Randall forgot.
Fun reason: the surprise blew away the hat! Greyson (talk) 16:07, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

Is it just me, or does this particular episode of xkcd just not come off as funny? Jarod997 (talk) 14:31, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

I suppose not particularly, but that happens regularly - it's not always supposed to be funny... -- Brettpeirce (talk) 14:35, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
I really enjoyed this comic. It's probably because I did not see the punchline coming on my small smartphone screen. RecentlyChanged (talk)
It's funny if you've read Dinosaur Comics Smperron (talk) 16:20, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

I believe that Rex from We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story would be even more 'improved'! Greyson (talk) 16:07, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

Barney would have been more logical as it (he?) already appears on a TV in JP III :-) 108.162.254.100 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I'd think that Dinosaur Comic's T-Rex is actually quite intelligent for a dinosaur. 108.162.221.169 18:26, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

"But Megan objects to this notion that the T.rex is only 20 years old, staying with the line of thought that White Hat started with." This phrase is very confusing for a non-native english speaker... I nearly edited it as a mistake from the author before understanding its actual meaning. Maybe it should be rephrased in a simpler way?188.114.110.47 08:55, 27 November 2014 (UTC)


Note: There is also movie Tyrannosaurus. I though they may refer to that, with the world being in italics, but that one is not 20 years old. -- Hkmaly (talk) 12:52, 28 November 2014 (UTC)

I think the explanation should mention the double meaning (figurative vs. literal) of "what's eating you?", as I think most non-native speakers won't be aware of the figurative one. (For example, I only caught it the third time reading.) --108.162.230.119 12:31, 30 November 2014 (UTC)

Which is? I'm not a native English speaker either, but I suppose the figurative meaning is "what's troubling you?". Oddly, Wiktionary was of no help. 188.114.99.189 23:47, 1 December 2015 (UTC)


Is it just me or this comic is pretty obviously referencing Apple's ads? Like 'it's two decades old!' as they constantly need to create a new iphone, and even if nothing changes, they still fill the ad with marketing bullshit. "We improved it. Made it scarier, deadlier, smarter." All of those are subjective. Etimologyman (talk) 20:30, 8 March 2019 (UTC)