Netflix's Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous connects to the franchise in lots of ways
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous spoilers follow.
Back in the '80s and '90s, it was common to see animated, kid-friendly spin-offs of popular movie franchises — even if those franchises were anything but kid-friendly. Everything from Beetlejuice and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure to Rambo and RoboCop got an animated show aimed at kids.
Decades later, it is now Netflix and DreamWorks picking up the torch, with an animated show based on Fast & Furious that came out last year, and now Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous bringing all kinds of dinosaur carnage to young audiences.
The show is a brand new story about a group of kids invited to an exclusive preview of the titular Camp Cretaceous, a summer camp right in the middle of Isla Nublar and its many dinosaur enclosures. Though the show presents a completely new story, it does have a lot of references, direct nods, and crossover with the live-action Jurassic movies.
Whether you've already watched the first season and want to see if you missed anything, or you're just curious to see if the show is worth your time, let's take a look at all the ways Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous connects to the Universal franchise.
The Dinosaurs
No matter how many MCU stars appear in the movies, everyone knows the real stars in the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World trilogies are the dinosaurs that eventually start eating people. Camp Cretaceous features virtually every major dinosaur from the new trilogy, and even a couple of new ones.
The very first episode starts out with footage of a Jurassic World video game where you have to survive both the raptors from the first movies, and Rexy, the Tyrannosaurus rex from the very first Jurassic Park. That same episode ends with the kids getting trapped in the raptor paddock and coming face to face with Blue, the fan-favourite raptor from Jurassic World.
Halfway through the season, the show crosses over with the movie and the Indominus rex becomes a big antagonist for the rest of the season, but it's not the only one. Early in the season, the kids are chased by a Carnotaurus, one of which we see in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and in episode six both the Mosasaurus and the pterosaurs and pteranodon flocks become deathly adversaries for the main characters.
The characters
Though we don't see many of the characters from Jurassic World, presumably because they're busy running away from the murderous dinosaurs, we get a brief cameo by the would-be Dr Frankenstein, Dr Henry Wu, the man behind the Indominus Rex.
Likewise, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard's character in the film) and Doctor Grant (Sam Neill's character from the original film) are name-dropped several times. Probably the best cameo by a character from the films is the return of Mr DNA, the goofy cartoon host of the park's Visitor Center tour.
The locations
Isla Nublar is a big place, and though most of Camp Cretaceous takes place on the other end of the island compared to the films, we do revisit some locations from the rest of the franchise. In addition to escaping the horrors of the Mosasaurus monsoon and seeing the destruction of the pteranodon aviary, the kids ride on the weird gyrospheres from Jurassic World (without the Jimmy Fallon intro video, though), ride the monorail that loops around the park, get attacked (again) at the raptor paddock, and even visit the underground maintenance tunnels we briefly see in Fallen Kingdom.
The one big addition in the show that we don't really see in the film is the "Cretaceous Cruise" kayak attraction that runs across the island.
The events
Halfway through Camp Cretaceous, we basically replay the events of Jurassic World except from the perspectives of different characters. In episode four, we start hearing reports of an "asset out of containment" and it quickly becomes clear that this is the Indominus Rex from the movie that has escaped and is causing chaos.
We replay scenes like Simon Masrani's helicopter chasing the Indominus Rex and crashing into the aviary, we listen to the comms of the Asset Containment Unit as they are eaten by the Indominus, and scenes of the park's guests getting into the escape boats. The kids even run into the crashed gyrosphere that the two main characters in Jurassic World ride before they first meet the Indominus.
The show is not only able to replay scenes from the film, but also fill in some of the blanks. In episode five we hear some chatter coming from a walkie-talkie, and listen to some guards screaming "Shoot her!" at an unknown dinosaur, and shout that "the order is to save [Dr] Wu."
Though we don't see what is going on, the closed captioning describes the noise as "velociraptors screeching," hinting at the dangers Dr Wu faced before escaping the island.
The references
Beyond the direct connections and cameos, Camp Cretaceous also features many nods and references to the original film, and even to the original novel.
In the first episode, the main character wins a Jurassic World video game by using the skull of a velociraptor in order to make noise and call off the other raptors, just like in Jurassic Park III. As soon as the kids get to Isla Nublar, they are greeted by giant gates with the park's logo, and the iconic welcome to the park, including John Williams' classic score.
There is also a nod to the original novel, which portrayed John Hammond as a greedy villain who didn't care about the safety or enjoyment of the park's guests, and cut corners every chance he could. In Camp Cretaceous, characters are constantly complaining about how nothing in the park works. Not the walkie talkies, not the wifi, not the emergency brakes in the monorail. The park may have spared no expense while making the dinosaurs, but they certainly did with everything else.
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous is available on Netflix.
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