Did you know that at one point Universal Cartoon Studios was developing a JURASSIC PARK animated series? I didn't, but I'm not surprised since there have been more than a few cartoon TV show based on popular movies (Remember when there were three animated series based on films starring Jim Carrey?), and several pieces of concept art from the abandoned project have landed online.
The artwork was created by artist William Stout, and in a post on his blog from 2014, he shared some details on the series, including why it didn't get made.
Although I own a copy, I don’t think this trailer is available anywhere. Upon the success of Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park movie, all kinds of ancillary projects abounded: toys, games, novelties, apparel, etc.
Towards the end of all of this merchandising I got a call from artist Will Meugniot, asking if I’d be interested in designing a Jurassic Park animated series. This was not going to be a kiddy show (although kids of all ages, including myself, could enjoy it). They wanted the show to be a mature prime time series with top writers and state-of-the-art television animation augmented with quite a bit of CG animation. Universal Cartoon Studios wanted a “graphic novel look” to the series. I came in, showed my portfolio and was hired.
We made a trailer to communicate the look and feel of the series, also showing how we would combine computer animation with traditional animation. All we needed was Spielberg’s approval.
I heard through the grapevine that he never bothered to watch what we had done. By that time the word was out that he was burnt out on Jurassic Park merchandising and all of the film’s commercial exploitation. So, it never got made. Too bad.
I'd love to see the trailer, however I doubt it's going to be released (offically or unoffically) any time soon. You can check out the concept art below, and if you're interested, you can purchase them here. Would you have watched Jurassic Park: The Animated Series?
