Eddie Carr — A Man Broken in Half

 *Note*: The discussion of this blog regarding Eddie Carr - the field equipment expert from The Lost World - is exclusively referring to the film's version of events. Eddie Carr suffered a different fate in Michael Crichton's novel. However, when talking about the first Jurassic Park, I'm discussing details from both the film and novel to help make things extra clear. 

My favorite film scene of all time is from The Lost World. It's the thrilling scene where animal behaviorist Dr. Sarah Harding and photographer Nick Van Owen bring the injured infant Tyrannosaurus Rex to the communications trailer - in an attempt to fix its broken leg. The baby T-Rex's leg was injured by Roland Tembo, the leader of InGen's expedition team to capture a bunch of dinosaurs and bring them back to San Diego. 

Before we delve into this scene, it's very important that we go over some vital background information:

* The bioengineering company InGen was in financial ruin after the events of the first Jurassic Park. They were faced with multi-million dollar lawsuits from the families of the people who were killed during the disaster of the park's first tour. It became known in inner-circles as the "InGen Incident." However, it was covered-up by InGen, and the people who survived couldn't properly reveal what happened. The survivors had signed non-disclosure agreements before they took the tour of the park - which muzzled them from going to the media and revealing what happened. 

But the viewers of the first film (and those who'd read the novel) knew all the details: John Hammond and InGen had discovered a way to bring dinosaurs back to life. The brilliant scientists of InGen, led by Dr. Henry Wu, realized that various mosquitos who were preserved in amber for millions of years could potentially have dinosaur blood in them. Just like today, where mosquitos bite humans and sap our blood, the same thing happened to dinosaurs millions of years ago. Even the mighty dinosaurs were constantly annoyed by those pesky pests. From the blood they extracted from the mosquitos, the InGen company was able to get dinosaur DNA. With the use of DNA from frogs to fill in the gaps of the incomplete gene sequences that were extracted from the dinosaur blood, InGen was able to bring dinosaurs back from extinction. 

John Hammond, the founder and CEO of InGen, was absolutely giddy. He knew his privately owned island, Isla Nublar, would make a perfect place to set up a theme park/zoo to showcase these magnificent animals who were here for the first time in 65 million years. Everything was kept top secret. John Hammond didn't want to reveal anything to the general public until he officially opened. Jurassic Park was built in secret for many years. There were definitely numerous problems and set-backs, but they were on the verge of completion. 

Unfortunately for InGen, about a year before they were scheduled to open, a worker was attacked and killed by a Velociraptor while attempting to move it into a more secure pen. A lawsuit was filed against InGen, and this made their investors very nervous. It also rattled the nerves of the legal team representing InGen's investors - especially their top lawyer, Donald Gennaro (also known as "Mr. Coupon Day" and "The Guy Who Was Eaten While Sitting On The Toilet"). Gennaro voiced his concerns about the safety of the island, and he made it clear that Jurassic Park would be shut down unless Hammond proved it was safe. 

Gennaro demanded that a team of scientists and academics visit Isla Nublar, and give their written testimonial on the stability of the island. Gennaro himself was able to get renowned mathematician Dr. Ian Malcom, who was obsessed with "Chaos Theory," to sign up on the team. But Gennaro knew he would also need a paleontologist to see the dinosaurs and give his assessment of the island. He wanted the most respected paleontologist in the world, Dr. Alan Grant. 

Hammond himself went to the badlands outside Snakewater, Montana, where Grant was leading a research team who were digging up dinosaur fossils. Hammond went into Grant's trailer uninvited and stole some of his Champagne. Grant ran into the trailer and was welcomed to the sight of Hammond's ass - through his tight white pants - sticking out at him. At first, Grant was absolutely furious. Paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler, who was Grant's graduate student (it was implied the two of them were dating), barged into the trailer a few seconds later and yelled, "Okay, who's the jerk!" 

Hammond then revealed that he was the man who was funding their dig, and he went on to explain a few details about what he was building. He said that he wanted Grant and Sattler to come down to Isla Nublar during the weekend to see it. When Grant asked Hammond why they needed him and Sattler to see the island, Hammond was very cryptic with his answer. Hammond didn't reveal that he had re-created dinosaurs. Hammond knew words alone couldn't do what he had built justice; Grant and Sattler would have to see it for themselves. At first Grant and Sattler didn't want to go. They had just started to dig up a new dinosaur skeleton, and wanted to focus on that. Hammond assured Grant and Sattler that he would compensate them by fully funding their research project for many years to come. 

Well, to make a long story short: disgruntled Jurassic Park computer operator Dennis Nedry, a grotesquely fat slob of a man, who felt he wasn't being paid his worth, was contacted by InGen's top competitor - Biosyn. Lewis Dodgson of Biosyn contacted Dennis Nedry, and in a meeting between the two men, Nedry revealed what InGen had accomplished. Lewis Dodgson offered to pay Nedry millions of dollars if he could steal the dinosaur embryos for Biosyn, so that they could reverse engineer them and create their own dinosaurs. Nedry agreed.  

They finalized their plans at a Costa Rican restaurant - where Nedry ordered an absurd amount of food,  completely engorging himself (and forced Dodgson to pick up the tab). 

Dodgson gave Nedry a device that exactly resembled a shaving cream can. The bottom was able to spring open, revealing a cooling unit that could safely transport the embryos for a short amount of time. 

Nedry had created the computer operating network of Jurassic Park, but he had only visited the island a few times, never going beyond the operating center. 

Coincidentally, he was scheduled to go to the island to debug a few a of the computer programs on the same weekend that the team of Donald Gennaro, John Hammond, Alan Grant, Ian Malcom and Ellie Sattler were scheduled to visit the island. On the first night of their stay on the island, a boat was scheduled to transport many of the scientists and workers off the island who didn't need to be there - meaning that very few personnel were working on the island during that weekend. Nedry and Dodgson hatched a plan where Nedry could steal the embryos and bring them to one of Dodgson's contacts. The contact would then go back to Dodgson and bring back the embryos to Biosyn. 

However, the shortest path from the computer room to the boat would take him through the park itself - which was a very dangerous route. Nedry would have to shut off the security and make it to the boat before it left; and then, after he handed the embryos to Dodgson's contact, he would have to rush back to the computer room and turn the security back on before anybody noticed he was gone - and before any dinosaur escaped. 

Nedry calculated he would have a fifteen minute window to do this. When the time finally came, he told Hammond, John Arnold and Robert Muldoon (" Mr. Clever Girl!") that he was going to step out for a few minutes to get a soda. He left his work station in a state of disarray - with candy wrappers and snack food everywhere. He went into the freezer storage area, sweating profusely, and carefully gathered all 15 species. 

But when he got into a jeep and was driving to the boat, he got caught in a heavy rainstorm and couldn't see where he was going. At a very fast speed he crashed into a log that was close to the road leading to the boat. He screamed "Oh, Damn it!" 

But he saw that he was close to the docks and decided to get his car winch to pull the log out of the way. Just as he was saying to himself "You got time!" and "You can do it, Dennis!," a vicious Dilophosaurus appeared and spit a substance into Nedry's eyes, blinding him. The Dilophosaurus then ate him. Nedry was delicious! 

This meant that Nedry couldn't turn the computer system back on, and thus the dinosaurs escaped from their pens. These sequence of events caused the "InGen Incident," which resulted in the death of multiple people. *

*Author's note*: John Hammond always claimed that he "spared no expense," but this was a total lie: He only hired a few employees, meaning that there was very little security on the island, which allowed Nedry to commit espionage. And the employees he did hire were payed very little, which means all of them hated him, and it was only a matter of time before someone was going to pull something like what Nedry did. 

                                                              *** 

Four years later, InGen filed for Chapter 11. They were facing many lawsuits, and the island of Isla Nublar had been destroyed. They were on the verge of complete bankruptcy. Peter Ludlow, John Hammond's nephew, wanted to take the dinosaurs that had been engineered on "Site B," Isla Sorna, and bring them back to a park they were constructing in San Diego. 

Isla Sorna was the initial site where the dinosaurs had been created, and it was where they would stay until they were grown enough to be transported to Isla Nublar. Even though Isla Nublar had been destroyed, Isla Sorna was still preserved. But John Hammond himself didn't want to do this. He felt that these creatures should be left alone and shouldn't be disturbed. This infuriated Ludlow and he got InGen's board of directors to vote out Hammond. With Hammond no longer leading InGen, Ludlow was free to put together an expedition team to capture the dinosaurs. 

As stated before, Roland Tembo was leading the team. He was a big game hunter who had taken down many mammoth animals. As part of his agreement to be on InGen's team, he said that he didn't want any money, but rather he demanded the right to hunt one of the Tyrannosaurs. He salivated at the thought of hunting a T-Rex. On the first night of their arrival on the Isla Sorna, Roland Tembo and his good friend Ajay Sidhu went to the Tyrannosaurus nest. With the parents gone, they hooked up the infant Rex on some chains, accidentally breaking one of his legs in the process, and took up a good shooting position high in a tree. The baby howled, and Roland and Ajay knew that the mother and father T-Rex would be back soon. They waited patiently. 

Unbeknownst to them, there was another team on the island. John Hammond had sent his own team to document the dinosaurs in their natural habitat, and show the world why it would be wrong to disturb them. This team consisted of animal behaviorist Dr. Sarah Harding, photographer Nick Van Owen, field equipment expert Eddie Carr, and our favorite mathematician, Ian Malcom (who initially didn't want to go to the island, but quickly sped into action when he found out Sarah Harding - his girlfriend - was already there). 

Ian Malcom and Eddie Carr got into some squabbles over the technology - mostly consisting of Eddie trying to teach Malcom how to properly use it. Neither Eddie or Ian could figure out why Nick Van Owen was there, but they accepted his presence, and a team of misfits had been assembled. 

When Ian, Eddie, and Nick arrived on Isla Sorna, they immediately started looking for Sarah. At first Nick and Eddie were in total awe of the magnificent dinosaurs they were seeing, but Ian grimly reminded them, "Oooooh, Ahhhhhhh - that's how it always starts, but then there's running... and screaming..." 

After walking for a little while, they shouted "SARAH!" when they spotted her backpack. Nick then shouted, "Doctor Sarah Harding!" 

Ian quickly pointed out how stupid Nick was for doing this. "How many Sarahs do you there are on this island!" Ian said incredulously. A few moments later they found her, but they were attacked by a Stegosaurus herd who were protecting their baby. They luckily escaped without a scratch, and then walked back to the communications trailer. 

Just as they arrived back at the trailer, they saw that Ian's stupid daughter, Kelly, was there, trying to cook them some breakfast. She stowed away in a cabinet of the communications trailer on the boat ride. Just as Ian was chastising Kelly, they saw that InGen had arrived on the island. Sarah thought they would be done documenting the dinosaurs before InGen arrived. Nick Van Owen wasn't surprised one bit, and he revealed that Hammond had anticipated InGen's arrival, and he thus had formulated a "backup plan" - him. 

After InGen captured a bunch of dinosaurs, Nick took out some pliers and released these mighty beasts from their cages. A Triceratops, who was freed, caused a bunch of havoc, and it even pushed a flaming car so hard that it flew into the tree where Roland and Ajay were stationed. They quickly moved out of the way, avoiding death by inches. 

All the distraction allowed Nick to free the baby T-Rex and bring him back to the communications trailer. Ian and Kelly shit in their pants when they saw the baby Rex, and they decided to go to Eddie, who was setting up the high hide. Sarah and Nick worked to fix the baby's leg, even using some of Nick's chewed gum to use as part of the cast. 

In the high hide, Ian, Kelly and Eddie heard the adult T-Rexes roar extremely loudly, and they knew that the Rexes were searching for their infant. They saw the Rexes walking in the direction of the trailer. Ian grabbed the phone that was in the high hide, and he tried calling the trailer, but Nick and Sarah didn't pick up, being too distracted with the baby. Kelly begged him to stay in the high hide. Ian promised to come back. Kelly pointed out that Ian lies to her all the time, so his word meant absolutely nothing. Ian ignored her, and slid down very quickly, crashing hard on the ground below. Ian grunted in pain, but then gathered himself and jolted towards the trailer. Just as Nick and Sarah had finished the cast for the infant, Ian said they had to get the baby Rex out of the trailer. At that moment, the parents arrived, and in their anger they flipped over Nick's van. 

In a horrified voice Ian said, "Mommy's very angry!" 

Ian, Sarah, and Nick pissed in their pants, but they opened up the trailer door very carefully and were able to give mommy and daddy T-Rex their baby. But the adult T-Rexes were still furious, and they started to push the trailer over a big cliff (for some stupid reason the team had parked right at the edge of a huge cliff). The trailer was dangling, and all three of them were hanging on for dear life. The T-Rex family went away, but Ian, Nick and Sarah were in mortal danger!

A few minutes later, Eddie Carr arrived in his M-Class Mercedes-Benz. He had a gut feeling that he needed to help Ian, Sarah, and Nick. He dropped out of the high hide and zoomed to the trailer. When he got there he was in absolute shock. The trailer was dangling over the cliff, and some of the windows were broken. 

*Author's note*: Amazingly, Eddie was able to touch the broken glass without getting cut (maybe his adrenaline was pumping so high that the broken glass didn't effect him). 

Eddie saw that his three comrades were still hanging on, but that they would suffer a terrible death unless he helped them. He got some rope and tied it to a stump that was conveniently very close to the trailer, and he threw it down to them - allowing them to climb up. But they weren't good climbers, and they moved very slowly. 

And to make things even more intense, because they were in the middle of a heavy rainstorm, the road was very wet and muddy, causing the tires of the trailer to start to slide over the cliff. This made Eddie very nervous, but without hesitating he started to get the rope from his car winch to hook it onto the trailer. However, he initially didn't get enough rope, and the force of his tug caused him to slip in the mud. 

Eddie ferociously gathered his strength and got more rope from the car winch. He was so determined to save his colleagues that he even dove in the mud when the trailer was starting to get out of reach. With a primordial scream he barely reached the trailer and was able to hook on the rope. He then quickly got back into his Mercedes. The car roared with life, and Eddie floored it in reverse. He intensely pressed on the gas, desperately willing the Mercedes to pull the trailer back up the cliff. Initially the trailer remained stationary, so Eddie shifted the Mercedes into fourth gear! Just as the Mercedes' engine roared again like an animal, it started to pull the trailer back over the cliff - skidding in the mud because of the force it was producing. Eddie started to relax and felt things were going to be okay!

But then Mr. and Mrs. Rex showed up again, flanking Eddie on both sides of his vehicle. The roar of Eddie's Mercedes probably had alerted them. They probably assumed it was another animal encroaching on their territory, and the Rexes were now in a defensive state to protect themselves and their infant. Eddie looked at them in absolute terror - and shit in his pants! He accidentally pressed the gas pedal again, making the Mercedes roar. The T-Rexes roared back, and one of them ripped open the roof of his vehicle. 

T-Rex had the biggest bite force of any animal in history, so the ones on Isla Sorna were easily able to tear off the roof of the Mercedes, exposing Eddie Carr!

He yelped in terror, but still had the presence of mind to get his gun out. His Linstradt Air Rifle could bring down any animal - even a T-Rex - so quickly that they would be dead before they even felt what had hit them. Eddie tried to get it out of the car holster, but in his nervousness the barrel got caught on some netting that was in the car. One of the T-Rexes lunged for him, but narrowly missed, instead hitting the steering wheel and causing the airbag to come out. Eddie was in absolute panic at this point. He tried to rip the gun free from the netting while yelling "GOD DAMN IT!" 

In an absolutely desperate act, Eddie attempted to kick the Rexes, but the one closest to him bit his knee. He hollowed in agony! The T-Rex flipped him in the air, and then both Rexes grabbed him with their mouths. They ripped his carcass in half! If Jim Ross had been there to make the call, he would've said, "They killed him! They killed him! As God as my witness, Eddie Carr has been broken in half!"

With nobody to step on the gas, the Mercedes was pulled with the trailer over the cliff, and it crashed into a bunch of rocks at the bottom, exploding into flames! 

Ian, Sarah and Nick all survived. Miraculously neither the trailer nor the Mercedes hit them, and they were still able to climb up the rope. 

This is absolutely the most exciting and intense scene in film history, but there are a few things that make me upset about it. Firstly, Nick Van Owen is a total idiot and an asshole. He should've never brought the baby Rex to the trailer! It was just asking for trouble! There's nothing wrong with loving animals, but anybody who cares more about animals than people is a huge jerk! I hope Nick Van Owen shows up in one of the Jurassic World movies and gets devoured and torn apart by a Velociraptor. 

Furthermore, it makes me very upset that Eddie gave his life to save Ian Malcom, a man who couldn't even figure out basic technology, and who had handled the satellite phone very roughly. And it was also Ian Malcom who demanded that the team leave much earlier than scheduled, giving Eddie no time to test the equipment properly.  

And the worst part of all was when Eddie arrived at the trailer and asked Ian, Sarah, and Nick what they needed. Instead of giving a proper response, they made a joke about ordering McDonald's!

And even worse than the worst part of all was when Roland Tembo and his team met up with Ian, Nick and Sarah after they climbed back up the hill (where was Roland a few seconds earlier when Eddie was being crunched???). Roland had the audacity to say, "The Rex just fed, so he won't stalk us for food." 

How disrespectful! Eddie Carr gave his life to save three other people, and that's all you can say about him? Now, I actually think Roland Tembo is an awesome character, so I'm not going to go off on him, but that remark definitely wasn't cool. 

Eddie Carr went through hell and high water - even falling in mud multiple times - to save those fucks, but they didn't appreciate him!

FUCK IAN MALCOM! FUCK SARAH HARDING! FUCK NICK VAN OWEN!

LONG LIVE THE MEMORY OF EDDIE CARR AND HIS M-CLASS MERCEDES BENZ!