Jurassic What If...? is a web series of brainstorming videos, hosted by the channel Swrve
on YouTube. The series has an episoduc format, with each video details a different 'what-if" scenario in the Jurassic Park franchise and how they affect the timeline, particularly in regards to events in the World films.
The first season is complete, and consists of the following episodes:
- Episode 1: "What If The Atrociraptors Were In Jurassic World?"
- Episode 2: "What If The Quetzalcoatlus was in Jurassic Park 3?"
- Episode 3: "What If The Woolly Mammoth was in Jurassic World?"
- Episode 4: "What If The Spinosaurus was in Jurassic World?"
- Episode 5: "What If The Indominus Rex was in Jurassic Park?"
- Episode 6: "What If The Mosasaurus Escaped BEFORE Jurassic World?"
- Episode 7: "What If Mt Sibo Erupted DURING Jurassic World?"
- Episode 8: "What If the Ultimasaurus was in Jurassic World?"
Jurassic What If...? can be seen using this playlist.
This series provides examples of:
- Accidental Hero: In Episode 4 ("What If The Spinosaurus was in Jurassic World?"), the Spinosaurus surprise-attacks the Indominus rex just in time to prevent it from killing Zach and Gray Mitchell.
- Adaptational Angst Downgrade: The Indominus rex's counterpart in the Episode 5 timeline, Diabolus rex, was reared considerably less callously under John Hammond's supervision, having imprinted on Hammond at birth and been kept in the spacious paddock that Rexy occupied in the canon timeline, whereas the canon Indominus never had anyone to imprint upon and was kept in a more cramped and dismal enclosure. This makes the Diabolus all the more despicable for matching its canon counterpart's viciousness anyway.
- Adaptational Heroism: Dennis Nedry in Episode 5 ("What If The Indominus Rex was in Jurassic Park?") was never contacted by BioSyn and doesn't in any way endanger Jurassic Park or commit corporate espionage like his canon counterpart did.
- Adaptational Villainy:
- In Episode 5 ("What If The Indominus Rex was in Jurassic Park?"), the Indominus/Diabolus rex had a comparatively less dysfunctional upbringing in this timeline under John Hammond's supervision than its canon counterpart, yet it's just as murderous and evil. It even kills Hammond, the man it imprinted upon at birth where its canon counterpart had never had anyone, without any reservations.
- Simon Masrani in Episode 6 ("What If The Mosasaurus Escaped BEFORE Jurassic World?") comes across as being more deliberately amoral than his canon counterpart was ever shown to be. Whereas the canon Simon was depicted as a decent guy and his megacorporation's shadier activities were suggested to be falling beneath his notice due to the size of his corporate empire, in this iteration, it seems harder for Masrani to ignore that his company was deliberately bribing injured victims of the escaped Mosasaurus' killing spree into silence and was suppressing knowledge. Either way, when this gets Simon into serious trouble with the law, he tries to scapegoat Hoskins.
- Adaptation Name Change: In Episode 5, the Indominus rex, which has been made two decades earlier and with John Hammond's authorisation, but is otherwise the same creature, is instead named the Diabolus rex.
- Ax-Crazy: The behaviour of the Ultimasaurus is described as such: "The animal was unpredictable and irrational, its behaviour bullish and aggressive, its mind twisted and warped." When the creature escapes containment, the carnage and devastation that it causes within a short time makes the canon Indominus rex and Indoraptor look tame by comparison.
- Behemoth Battle: During Episode 4, the Spinosaurus battles the Indominus rex, and later it battles Rexy.
- Death by Adaptation: Multiple episodes see characters whom are still alive in canon killed off during events that their canon selves survived.
- Episode 1: Owen Grady and most to all of the main characters of Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous are killed by the Atrociraptors during the 2015 downfall of Jurassic World.
- Episode 2: Billy doesn't escape downriver from the Isla Sorna aviary and is instead torn apart, on account of the aviary being occupied by Quetzalcoatlus instead of Pteranodon. In the same episode, Vic Hoskins dies over a decade earlier in the timeline than his canon counterpart, killed while trying to neutralize the escaped Quetzalcoatlus.
- Episode 3: Claire Dearing is killed amid the eruption of Mount Sibo in 2018.
- Episode 4: The original Scorpius rex is killed by Dr. Wu, who in this timeline fulfills his orders to terminate the hybrid instead of secretly putting it in cryogenic stasis, which also ensures that the Scorpius never reproduces and the hybrid species is rendered extinct before it could take off. The original Spinosaurus individual from Jurassic Park III and Camp Cretaceous also dies in the early 2000s during a hectic effort to extract its DNA. Zach and Gray Mitchell are both killed during the 2015 downfall of Jurassic Park.
- Episode 5: Ian Malcolm and Tim and Lex Murphy are all massacred by the Diabolus rex during the downfall of Jurassic Park.
- Episode 8: The Ultimasaurus manages to kill Owen Grady, Barry Sembène, implicitly Blue, and 80% of all animal life, both human and dinosaur, on Isla Nublar.
- Herbivores Are Friendly: Inverted in Episode 3. The woolly mammoths are just as violent and destructive as any T. rex in the Jurassic Park franchise has ever been.
- Ignored Expert: When the Mosasaurus is hunting the USS Amity submarine, Masrani Global Corp's head of security Vic Hoskins contacts the unknowing crew, warning them to cut their engines and await further instructions, but the captain doesn't heed Hoskins' warning in time because "[he's] confused as to why a creature response expert would be attempting to provide a U.S. Naval vessel with advice and guidance."
- It's All My Fault: In Episode 5, Robert Muldoon blames himself for the death and destruction wrought by the Diabolus rex and the downfall of Jurassic Park.
- Meaningful Name: The Diabolus rex's name roughly means "devil king," and it's just as evil and destructive as its canon counterpart while lacking the tragic and traumatic traits.
- Original Character: Marshall Brody is an original character not present in any other licensed or fan-made Jurassic Park/World works.
- Person of Mass Destruction: The Ultimasaurus is far more destructive than any of the canon hybrids ever were. Upon escaping its paddock, it wipes out 95% of Isla Nublar's entire security detail and turns Jurassic World's Main Street into a lifeless bloodbath, all inside of just two hours. And post-incident reports suggest that it's afterwards managed to kill over 80% of all human, dinosaur and animal life on Isla Nublar.
- Shout-Out:
- The series title sequence is a homage to that of the similarly "What If?"-themed episodic, animated series What If…? (2021).
- Marshall Brody, an original character who is InGen's chief aquatic geneticist and assists Henry Wu in creating the Mosasaurus in Episode 6, is a very clear shout-out to Martin Brody, the protagonist of Jaws who battles the hostile shark. The video even uses a screenshot of Martin Brody from the film when mentioning him.
- Spared by the Adaptation:
- Both Simon Masrani and Vic Hoskins avoid dying during the downfall of Jurassic World in the timelines of Episode 1 ("What If The Atrociraptors Were In Jurassic World?") and Episode 6 ("What If The Mosasaurus Escaped BEFORE Jurassic World?").
- In the timeline of Episode 5 ("What If The Indominus Rex was in Jurassic Park?"), Dennis Nedry and Ray Arnold both survive the downfall of the original Jurassic Park.
- Title Sequence: The series has its own title sequence, made in deliberate parody of that of What If…? (2021).
- What If?: The premise of every episode hinges on alternate takes on canon Jurassic Park and Jurassic World stories, originating from one alteration to the characters' choices or the setting.
