Original artwork, not a still
God help us; we're in the hands of engineers.
— Jurassic Park · 1993
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is a scientist's gallows joke aimed at a park run on software and ego: Malcolm has heard the sales pitch and already knows how it ends. Jeff Goldblum's dry delivery made it the go-to line for any plan that depends entirely on the people who built it. Developers and sysadmins still quote it, usually after an outage that everyone could have predicted.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Jurassic ParkShow the scene
The park tour is about to begin. Hammond's guests have finished the lab and the ride past the Mr. DNA film, and Ray Arnold in the control room starts the tour program ("Hold onto your butts"). As the two driverless electric vehicles set off, Donald Gennaro remarks that they want to join the future, and Ian Malcolm, the chaotician who has doubted the park from the start, murmurs this line. The recorded tour voice then welcomes them to Jurassic Park, and Malcolm asks what they have got in there, King Kong.
Sources (2)
- Jurassic Park Film Transcript (Jurassic Park Wiki)tour start, after Ray starts the tour programReference checked
- Jurassic Park (film) (Wikipedia)PlotReference checked
Context reviewed
