The 'Jurassic World' Cartoon Makes the Movies Even Darker

In a just and fair world, we would have gotten a Jurassic Park cartoon back in the '90s when there were plans to make a "mature prime time" series with a "graphic novel look." Even though the concept art was rad as hell, Steven Spielberg didn't approve, allegedly because he "never bothered to watch" the demo video.

But now there finally is a toon set in the Jurassic Park-verse; Netflix's Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous, which is about a summer camp for kids ill-advisedly housed on an island full of prehistoric killing machines. 

The first season of the show is set during the events of the first Jurassic World movie, in which the Indominus Rex escapes and terrorizes the park. But these kids don't have a gun-toting Chris Pratt to help out, just a couple of teenage counselors armed with whistles. The show is actually surprisingly good, but it does one thing we wouldn't have thought possible -- it makes the Jurassic World theme park somehow seem even more poorly run than before. 

In addition to opening a new park using the same business plan that previously led to multiple deaths and several near-child dismemberments (which, to be fair, makes way more sense now), the last episode of the season (SPOILERS) shows that the scrappy band of young campers are still on the island of Isla Nublar after it's evacuated. They're just left behind, like non-Christians in a Kirk Cameron movie. 

This is all considered "canon" by the way -- so next time you watch Jurassic World don't forget that the seemingly happy ending also involves the abandonment of several minors who, let's face it, would probably be eaten almost immediately. This isn't just for, like, an afternoon, according to the creators, the "conceit of the show" is that six kids are left for dead in Jurassic World "when the U.N. quarantine is put into place." This, of course, tees up a potential second season in which we see how the kids survive, hopefully making their new home the abandoned ruins of Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. And if Netflix declines to renew the show, they could always just retroactively CGI six tiny skeletons into Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. 

You (yes, you) should follow JM on Twitter! And check out the podcast Rewatchability

Top Image: Netflix