Michael Crichton R.I.P. (and Top 5)

5 November 2008

My friend Merrill sent me an email, letting me know author Michael Crichton had died. Soon after, it was on the news and on the internet that cancer had claimed him at age 66.He was a shockingly tall man, who used to come into the video store where I worked fairly often, enough that I came to recognise him by sight and chatted with him on several occasions. He used to HATE it when I, or another employee, would talk to him about JURASSIC PARK. He could be surprisingly grouchy about the novel/film that made him most famous.

But at the same time, he loved to talk with us about ANDROMEDA STRAIN, COMA, TWISTER, and even CONGO. I remember asking him about the TV show "e.r." (which was my favourite programme at the time) and how he explained that it started as a screenplay he wrote years before, and somehow ended up as a pilot . . . to a show that's still on all these years later.

Anyway, I figured I'd ask people about their Five Favourite Michael Crichton movies. In looking over his filmography, I didn't find a lot of choices (at least that I'd seen). No wonder I always wanted to talk to him about velociraptors.

My list:
1. JURASSIC PARK
2. TWISTER
3. WESTWORLD
4. THE LOST WORLD
5. RUNAWAY

Tyranist was first to respond. His list was:
1. The 13th Warrior
2. Westworld
3. Andromeda Strain (1971--remakes are for idiots)
4. Jurassic Park
5. Rising Sun

Ryan then sent this list, having not seen enough to cite five:
1 Jurassic Park
2 The Lost World
3 Twister
4 Sphere

Chemist Jeff sent this list (as well as an essay about Crichton's books versus his movies):
1 - Runaway - Dunno why, but always enjoy watching this movie. And Kirstey Alley was still cute. No clue he wrote it.
2 - Jurassic Park - Just a well done movie based on a really good book
3 - Twister - No clue this was his, but a fun movie. Always wanted to hear him yell "game over!" or "Weirzbowski!!!"
4 - Andromeda Strain - 1971 - I've seen it and enjoyed it, just don't remember all that much, other than the basics...
5 - Jurassic Park 2 -Lost World- though I didn't enjoy it that much, but it's the best of the rest (that I've seen)

Beta Ray Charles helped me out with (nothing that he'd never read a single Crichton novel):
1. Jurassic Park
2. The 13th Warrior
3. Twister
4. Jurassic Park 2
5. Congo

He also wrote "Amy loves Pepsi" after citing CONGO, which I don't really get, but am disturbed by nonetheless.

Unca Rhett sent me a list (and somewhat on time too) with these three:
1. Twister
2. Jurassic Park
3. Jurassic Park: The Lost World

I suppose that makes our winners:
1. JURASSIC PARK
2. TWISTER
3. THE LOST WORLD
4. THE THIRTEENTH WARRIOR*
5. WESTWORLD

Strangely, nobody listed TIMELINE. I've got an autographed poster of that somewhere. And didn't that have Paul Walker in it?

Rish Outfield

*More than one person complained that the novel was called "Eaters of the Dead," and the film should've been called that. I for one would've been greatly disappointed had I paid to see a movie called EATERS OF THE DEAD and got the Antonio Banderas movie instead.