Ian Malcolm (Jurassic Park)
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Ian Malcolm is a character from Michael Crichton's series of books, Jurassic Park. He also appears in both the film renditions in which Steven Spielberg was director, and is portrayed by Jeff Goldblum.
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[edit] Plot in novels
In the first book, Ian Malcolm is a tall, strapping thirty-five-year-old man, with dark balding hair; depicted as an eccentric mathematician specializing in chaos theory at The University of Texas, and is the individual for whom the (fictional) Malcolm Effect (which supposedly describes the rapid catastrophic failing of a complex system) is named. Malcolm, using chaos theory, predicts from the very beginning that Jurassic Park will inevitably fail, because chaos theory says that complex systems, with certain conditions, cannot be controlled. One example he uses is the weather forecasting, conducted with computers. In a discussion with lawyer Donald Gennaro, he quotes:
- "All the money spent on long-range forecasting - about half a billion dollars in the last few decades - is money wasted. It's a fool's errand. It's as pointless as trying to turn lead into gold."
His theory is proved after Tim Murphy spots a juvenile Velociraptor in a field, and then when Alan Grant finds a Velociraptor egg shell. After the power fails in the park, he is critically wounded after being attacked by a Tyrannosaurus rex. Malcolm's theory is proved further in the following hours, when eight adult raptors escape their holding pen, after the auxiliary power unit fails.
He manages one last outburst about how the planet Earth cannot be destroyed when Hammond suggests so, and slips into a coma, where he apparently dies.
Sometime later, he is revealed to have survived and returns in The Lost World. He still suffers greatly as a result of the large fall he sustained after a Tyrannosaurus threw him into the air, so much that he needs a cane. He returns a changed character, and has a partner, Sarah Harding, who, it is hinted, is the Jurassic Park veterinarian's daughter.
In the book, he is pursued by brilliant but egocentric palaeontologist Richard Levine, who discovers an unconfirmed Ornitholestes corpse on a Costa Rican beach. Joined by Harding, Levine, and kids Kelly Curtis and R.B. Benton, and Jack Thorne and Eddie Carr, he goes to Isla Sorna. He pursues Lewis Dodgson and his henchmen, George Baselton and Howard King.
In the trailer attack, he receives a second leg injury, for which he is deeply drugged. After Harding returns, having fed Dodgson to one of the Tyrannosaurus on the island, he goes home. It can be assumed he went back to the Santa Fe Institute.
[edit] Plot in movies
Ian's character in the movie adaptations of Jurassic Park and The Lost World differs in some ways from his book persona. He displays a greater sense of morality for both his companions and family; in Jurassic Park, he sees Alan Grant light a flare to distract a T-Rex, and does the same thing hoping to lead the T-Rex away from the kids, severely injuring his leg in the process but nonetheless surviving. Also in The Lost World, he becomes infuriated when Roland Tempo appears to disrespect Eddie Carr's death.
Unlike the novel's version, Malcolm is also given a subtle background in regard to his family. It is revealed that he has had his share of failed marriages and relationships, and has three children, one of which is Kelly Curtis. It is shown through his actions towards his daughter and Sarah Harding, his girlfriend, that he has commitment problems, and can be extremely overprotective at times. His leg injury from the books has been reduced to a limp in the last act of the film. He is also portrayed as an active, driving force in The Lost World, and is quick to demonstrate acts nothing short of heroic, unlike his passive, weaker self in the book.
Ian is also mentioned in Jurassic Park III by Eric Kirby and Grant. From their conversation, we can gather that his reputation in the mathematical field has been restored, and he is once again dedicating his teachings to chaos theory.
As of 2007, there is no word if Goldblum will be in Jurassic Park IV.
