User blog:Granditamias/Should Spinosaurus have replaced Baryonx in JW:FK?

As many of us know, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was packed with dinosaurs, having the most species out of all five current films. There were so many that the film didn’t have time to give a decent amount of focus to them all, aside from the T-rex, Velociraptor, Indoraptor, and Stygimoloch to an extent. And to think, concepts during early stages of development called for even more/different dinosaurs like Einiosaurus, Pachyrhinosaurus, and Spinosaurus.

Particularly that last one is an interesting case, because it was supposedly meant to be involved in a scene where it would have fought Isla Nublar’s veteran T-rex, as a rematch to the infamous battle in Jurassic Park III. But instead, we got to see that T-rex kill a Carnotaurus next to Owen and the gyrosphere. However, I wouldn’t necessarily say that the Carnotarus replaced the Spinosaurus, since the film gave us a different spinosaurid earlier, the Baryonx.

I’ve heard some people say that the inclusion of the similar Baryonx was a way for the filmmakers to test the waters, and be a prelude to the potential return of the Spinosaurus. While I can understand their caution if this was the case, I think they should have gone all in and had Spinosaurus instead. I don’t think it would have changed much beyond the aforementioned rematch, and it would be a little redundant to have two spinosaurids in the same film. Not that I didn’t like the Baryonx, but of the three new Isla Nublar carnivores that Fallen Kingdom introduced, it was perhaps my least favorite because of the drab design. I think that with a little bit of rearranging, the Spinosaurus would have fit perfectly with the rest of the existing narrative, and possibly have fulfilled a long desire within the fanbase.

So instead of the Baryonx in the scene where Claire and Franklin escape the lava flowing communications building, what if it was either the Carnotarus or Allosaurus instead? Both are nearly the same size as the Baryonx and would have fit through the tunnel as well. Not to mention that the humans’ reactions would not have changed; so ultimately, the type of mid-size carnivorous theropod didn’t matter.

The next part I imagine is based off the first trailer and how it might not have needed to change as much. On the hill with the gyrosphere, the Spinosaurus would circle around it as the humans were too awe stricken and terrified to escape. But then the T-rex comes up to challenge it and they roar at each other as the volcano starts to go off behind them. The trailer would cut to black at that moment followed by Ian Malcom’s speech as normal, but in the actual film, the rematch would happen. The fight could end in many different ways, but I would prefer that the T-rex only beat the Spinosaurus to a point that it gives up and runs away, only for them both to be captured later and put on the Arcadia.

Since there would be no Baryonx to appear during the auction montage or at the end of the film when it’s being loaded onto a plane, it could just be replaced with a Carnotaurus again in those instances. But as for the Spinosaurus, since it’s too large to fit through the auction doors, it could probably have been the other carnivore that fights over Eli’s body with the T-rex when all the dinosaurs are set loose. After that, it would run off into the California woodlands, and presumably be featured in the next film.

I am content with Baryonx’s inclusion, but since there is a closing window of opportunity to have the Spinosaurus again, I think they should have used that dinosaur instead so that it would have more to do in that film and the next one. And they wouldn’t necessarily need to explain why it’s there, since we already know through the DPG website that some of Jurassic World’s dinosaurs (shown on and off screen) were originally captured from Isla Sorna, and the Spinosaurus we saw in Jurassic Park III could have been one of them.

If Spinosaurus is going to be in Jurassic World III, presumably on the mainland where most or all of the film is likely to be set, I think it would be hard to implement without the story going into an explanation as to how it gets there and why it wasn’t already in the main wave of escaped dinosaurs. The easiest solution probably would have been for it to be in Fallen Kingdom, and to do that, they would have had to make some room by leaving out the Baryonx.

Come to think of it, the way Fallen Kingdom planned to use these spinosaurids was the reverse of what happened during Jurassic Park III’s production, where Baryonx was originally going to appear but replaced with Spinosaurus.