Ian Malcolm

"Life, uh, finds a way."

- Ian Malcolm

Ian Malcolm was a mathematician who specialized in a branch of mathematics known as "Chaos Theory".

Jurassic Park
Ian Malcolm was invited to the park by Donald Gennaro as an insurance consult, as Donald apparently felt that Ian, as a fiduciary, would be able to notice any dangerous shortcomings the park would have to offer. On the helicopter ride to Isla Nublar, he met John's consults, Paleobotanist Ellie Sattler and Paleontologist Alan Grant, and traveled with them, along with John and Donald into the park, where he was stunned by the astonishing sight of a living Brachiosaurus. He then traveled to the visitor's center and learned how the dinosaurs of the park were created, and watched an infant Velociraptor hatch. While his colleagues remained in awe of the event, Ian expressed skepticism of the park's ability to control the animals they were breeding, and reminded his colleagues that life would, uh, find a way.

Ian later went on the tour through the park, only to express disapproval when none of the dinosaurs showed themselves. Bored, he took to flirting with Ellie, much to Alan's chagrin, while attempting to explain chaos theory, or the idea that something can never be completely predicted. After watching the sick Triceratops, he returns to the tour with Alan Grant, only to have it break down in front of the Tyrannosaurus Rex paddock. The T.Rex inevitably escapes, and attacks Donald's car, which Donald had earlier abandoned with the children inside. In an attempt to lure the Rex away, Ian and Alan grab and ignite flares to cause a distraction, but the Rex isn't fooled by Ian and chases him to the bathroom, where he is tossed several feet and injures his leg. Alan escapes with the kids, and Ellie and Robert arrive to help Ian, only to be set upon by the Tyrannosaurus. Having put Ian in the jeep, they escape after a short but intense chase.

Ian is brought to the control room where he helps formulate a plan to restart the power. The plan is somewhat successful, but in order for it to work, Ellie and Robert have to go to an emergency shed. Ian is brought to the bunker where he and John talk Ellie through the process of turning the power back on. After the systems come back online, Ian and John drive back to the visitor's center to pick up Alan, Ellie, and the kids, all of whom then drive to the helicopter, leaving the island.

The Lost World
"The Lost World" takes place four years after "Jurassic Park". After the events of the first film, Malcolm tries to go public about his experience on Isla Nublar, only to be discredited by Hammond's nephew, Peter Ludlow, who tells the public that Malcolm is crazy and does not know what he is talking about. Despite this status, Malcolm manages to develop a relationship with an accomplished biologist named Sarah Harding. Malcolm is eventually summoned to Hammond's house, where Hammond reveals to a shocked Malcolm the nature of Site B, a separate island where the dinosaurs were bred before being moved to the main island. Hammond then unveils his plan to send a team of researchers to the island to photograph the animals in their natural habitat in order to create public sympathy and hopefully discourage corporations, such as InGen, which is being taken over by Ludlow, from profiting off the island. Malcolm, who is invited along, initially refuses, but changes his mind when Hammond reveals that Sarah was also hired, and has already left for the island. Malcolm then meets up with Hammond's other men, Eddie Carr and Nick Van Owen, and makes preparations to leave for the island.

Upon arrival, the team immediately begins searching for Sarah using a satellite phone, and eventually find her following a herd of Stegosaurs. After a brief encounter with the creatures, they return to the trailer, where Malcolm finds that his daughter, Kelly, has stowed away on board. He attempts to convince Sarah to leave with him, but is interrupted when a fleet of helicopters bearing the InGen logo and carrying various automobiles arrive over the island. The team follows the new arrivals and watches as they chase down various dinosaurs in jeeps and violently capture several of the creatures. That night they watch as Ludlow, who is in charge of the group, gives a presentation to his shareholders and announces his plan to recreate Jurassic Park in San Diego. He is interrupted, however, when Sarah and Nick set the captive dinosaurs loose, destroying the camp. In an attempt to avoid the chaos, Malcolm takes Kelly back to the trailer, and later to the high-hide when Sarah and Nick arrive at the trailer with an injured infant Tyrannosaurus. However, after hearing the unmistakeable bellows of the infant's parents, Malcolm leaves the safety of the hide and runs on foot back to the trailer just as the adult Tyrannosaurs arrive, and helps return the healed infant to its parents. However, the Tyrannosaurs remain unimpressed, and, seeing the trailer and its inhabitants as a threat, promptly attack the trailer, until it hovers precariously over a cliff. After barely saving Sarah from falling, Malcolm and Nick are rescued by Eddie, who throws a tow line down to them before getting eaten by the Tyrannosaurs.

The three are then helped back onto the cliff by Roland Tembo, who is in charge of Ludlow's team. With all of InGen's equipment and automobiles destroyed, Roland decides that an uneasy alliance is the best method for escaping the island. Reunited with Kelly, Malcolm and his team agree to trek to the destroyed facility at the island's center. Along the way, Malcolm attempts to coerce Ludlow into realizing the error of his ways, but is unsuccessful. That night, the team is set upon by the Tyrannosaurs, who followed the smell of the infant T-Rex' blood on Sarah's jacket. The team is separated in the chaos, with most of them being chased in a massive stampede to a waterfall. Malcolm, Sarah, Kelly, and Nick end up separated from the InGen group, who are ambushed by Velociraptors in the long grass surrounding the facility. The four make it through the grass unscathed, but Malcolm is briefly hurt and Nick goes on ahead to call for help. Eventually, Ian, Sarah, and Kelly follow, only to be attacked by three raptors. They eventually escape the compound where they board a helicopter that Nick called in, departing the island for good.

Unfortunately, however, their troubles are not yet over, as they eventually find that Tembo has tranquilized the buck Tyrannosaur and the team are bringing him via boat to the mainland. Ian and Sarah try to visit the dock where Ludlow is holding a press conference when the freighter holding the animal suddenly crashes through the dock, releasing the Rex. As the animal goes on a rampage through San Diego, Malcolm and Harding drive to the site of the new Park and steal the infant. They then find the father and lure him away using the infant. After a brief chase, they bring the animals back to the freighter and drop the infant in the cargo bay, where it is followed by a greedy Ludlow, as well as the adult Rex, who kills Ludlow. Malcolm then re-boards the ship and closes the cargo bay, locking the beast inside.

In the aftermath, Malcolm is last seen resting on his couch with Sarah, while Kelly watches a news program showing the freighter returning to the island. The public finds out that Malcolm was telling the truth and his reputation is restored.

Jurassic Park III
Dr. Malcolm is mentioned by Alan Grant and Eric Kirby in a conversation. Eric didn't like the book Malcolm had published, calling him "preachy" and "high on himself". Alan smiled and remarked "that's two things we have in common", meaning Grant still has a disdain for Ian, though the way he says it makes it seem that he only means it in a gesting manner, as Alan smiles when he replies.

Jurassic Park
Ian Malcolm was part of the evaluation team. Being a mathematician from Dallas, Texas, he was the most gloomy character and knew right from the beginning the park would fail.

When the T. rex escaped and attacked one of the cars near its paddock, Malcolm, who was in the other car, panicked and ran outside. The Rex chased him and picked him up in its jaws, then shook him and threw him down. Malcolm broke his leg in the fall.

Muldoon and Gennaro found Malcolm and took him to the Safari Lodge, where he was looked on by Gerry Harding. Malcolm was later airlifted out from Nublar and headed to Costa Rica for medical attention.

The Lost World
The novel begins with Ian Malcolm giving a lecture on Extinction and Chaos Theory. After the lecture while he and ex-lover Sarah Harding were having lunch they were approached by a spoiled paleontologist named Richard Levine, who wanted Dr. Malcolm (and possibly also Sarah) to help him find a "lost world", where "extinct" creatures may have actually survived from antiquity. Ian refuses him several times, but his curiosity gets the better of him and he and Richard set out to find Site B.

Family

 * Unnamed father (mentioned in The Lost World)
 * Unnamed mother (mentioned in The Lost World)
 * Various ex-wives
 * Sarah Harding (girlfriend)
 * Kelly Malcolm (daughter in The Lost World)
 * Two other children (mentioned in Jurassic Park)

Jurassic Park
Dr. Grant: "I think we're out of a job."

Malcolm: ''"Don't you mean extinct?" ''

"God help us we're in the hands of engineers" 

"Life finds a way."

"God creates dinosaurs, God destroys dinosaurs. God creates Man. Man destroys God, Man creates dinosaurs."

"Now, eventually you do plan to have dinosaurs on your dinosaur tour, right?"

''"Nobody could have predicted that Dr. Grant would suddenly jump out of a moving vehicle!" [Ellie follows Alan out of the car] "There's another example. See, here, now I'm sitting by myself, ah, talking to myself. That's chaos."''

"When you gotta go, you gotta go"

''"Boy, do I hate being right all the time." ''

''"[Sarcastically] Remind me to thank John for a lovely weekend." ''

"C'mon, c'mon, we gotta get out of here, let's go, let's go, c'mon hurry!"

"Must go faster."

"Yeah, but John, when the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down the pirates don't eat the tourists!"

"Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could that they didn't stop to think if they should."

The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Hammond: "I'm not making the same mistakes again."

Malcolm: "No, no. You're making all new ones."

"Ah, where you're going is the only place in the world where the geese chase you."

"Actually, it would put them at a very convenient biting height. [about the high hide]" ''"Oh ooh aah, that's how it all starts. Then there's running, and then screaming..." ''

"Mommy's very angry"

"Just fed? I presume you're talking about Eddie? Hey, you might show a little respect! The guy saved our lives by giving his!"

''"They say talent skips a generation, so I'm sure your kids will be sharp as tacks." ''

Sarah: "Could you slow down a bit?"

Ian glances at the pursuing Tyrannosaurus

''Ian: "Um....I don't think so." ''

''To Peter Ludlow. ''

''Ian: "Now you're John Hammond." ''

Video Games

 * Malcolm appeared in Chaos Island: The Lost World, as one of the playable units in the game.


 * He is a playable character in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (SEGA Genesis Game), for Player 2.


 * He also appeared in the bonus ending of The Lost World: Jurassic Park (console game), which can be earned by collecting all DNAs in all of the levels.


 * He is a playable character in Jurassic Park (mobile game), alongside Dr. Grant.

Trivia

 * Malcolm seemed to have died in the first novel, but in the second novel it is revealed that he was merely unconscious and still alive, likely to correspond with the film canon, in which Malcolm survived.
 * While there is no character that has been in all 3 movies, Ian and Hammond are the closet thing to longest running characters as they were in the first and second movie and mentioned in the third movie, were as other character's that are in the first and third are not mentioned in the second.
 * Malcolm's personality seemed to have changed drastically in the second movie, though he retains his sense of humour and sarcasm from the first film.