As the final installment in the Jurassic Park franchise, it's only right that Jurassic World: Dominion pays homage to the original Jurassic Park trilogy with Easter eggs, callbacks, and references. Fortunately, it does so in ways that make sense for its plot, rather than as simple fan service to exploit all three movies' inherent nostalgia.
As Jurassic Park heroes Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, and Ian Malcolm unite with Jurassic World dynamic duo Owen Grady and Claire Dearing, the movies that started it all are given deference by the movies that carried the franchise to new heights, as they try to stop InGen rival Biosyn and see if life really can find a way.
Ellie Sattler Taking Off Her Glasses To Look At The Locusts
After another devastating attack by giant locusts, Ellie Sattler is called in to take a sample, wearing a salmon-colored shirt partially tied around her waist in the same manner she wore it in Jurassic Park. When she witnesses the devastation the giant locusts have caused to the farm's crops, her mouth hangs agape in incredulity as she removes her sunglasses.
This scene matches the same beats and physical movements as the scene in which she saw the Brachiosaurus for the first time in Jurassic Park. The visual callback not only offers an homage to one of the most powerful moments in the movie, but it also proves there are always new ways to draw wonder in the franchise.
Ellie Sattler Bonding With A Triceratops
Prior to visiting Biosyn headquarters, Ellie bonds with a baby Triceratops, and the meeting inspires one of her best quotes in the Jurassic World franchise; "You never get used to it." Triceratops has been a big part of her life since she first visited Jurassic Park and took care of a sick adult who had eaten some toxic berries, but even after all her experience with dinosaurs, seeing them in everyday life is still awe-inspiring.
By including the magical moment, Ellie's character receives even further development as a conscientious scientist who's been devoted to the natural world her entire life. It also makes great use of practical effects with the dinosaur, paying homage to the much larger one used in Jurassic Park.
Ian Malcolm Distracting The Giganotosaurus
The first time Ian Malcolm used fire to distract a dinosaur, it didn't go so well. Alan had already used a flare to lure a T-Rex away from Lex and Tim in Jurassic Park, and Ian thought where one flare was good, two would be better, but forgot to toss the flare in time, and the T-Rex continued to go after him.
In Jurassic World: Dominion, he draws the attention of the Giganotosaurus, one of the most giant creatures in Jurassic Park, away from his friends again with fire, but this time, he manages to save the day. Not only does it give Ian his hero moment, but it's also an effective strategy, and he does it for the right reasons, instead of trying to outdo Alan.
Ian Malcolm's Unbuttoned Shirt
Following his encounter with the T-Rex in Jurassic Park Ian's wounds must get attended to, and the scene involves Jeff Goldblum lying with his black shirt suggestively hanging open to reveal his glistening chest.
After taking on the Giganotosaurus, Ian notices that his shirt is unbuttoned, and hastily buttons it up in a direct callback to that moment decades ago. While a fun and humorous moment, it suggests Ian has gotten more modest as he's matured and no longer needs to draw the attention of "the future ex-Mrs. Malcolm."
Alan Grant Mentioning High Voltage Fences
Alan Grant doesn't much approve of Biosyn putting neural chips into dinosaurs to track their movements and modify their behavior, finding the method of shock treatment inhumane. When he shares his misgivings with Biosyn's head of communications, Ramsay asks him if he knew how high the voltage was in the fences throughout Jurassic Park, suggesting Biosyn's methods are only in keeping with what InGen started.
Alan was intimately aware of the voltage in Jurassic Park because of Tim, who was shocked so hard by one of them trying to return to the visitor center that he was flung several yards and nearly lost consciousness. While Alan might not want to be reminded of that dangerous time, it was also a moment of bonding with the children that he cherished.
Alan Grant Giving Another Raptor Speech
Alan has changed his tune about raptors in Jurassic World: Dominion, acknowledging in one of his signature threatening speeches that they've gotten smart enough to go after their victim's jugulars, rather than slashing at them with their dewclaws. Like Owen, he's been up close and personal with raptors in Jurassic Park III, which helped him reevaluate his views on their behavior.
In Jurassic Park, he made a similar speech about the feeding habits of raptors involving their dewclaws being used to cut open their victims' stomachs, making sure that they would be "still alive" when the raptors began to eat them. Not only does his new raptor speech acknowledge and build on the old one, but it also shows that Alan is still learning something new about dinosaurs all these years later.
Blood On The Ferns
After Claire survives ejecting from the plane (in a parachute sequence that provides a nod to Jurassic Park III), she must make her way through woods that are crawling with dinosaurs, including a T-Rex and a Giganotosaurus that both fight over a deer. When Owen and Kayla pick up her trail, they happen upon ferns smeared with blood and fear the worst has happened to her, only to realize it's not her blood.
This is similar to Ian looking for another intrepid redhead, Sarah Harding, on Isla Sorna in The Lost World; he finds her lucky pack strewn with holes and believes she's been attacked, only to discover that it always looks like that and she's perfectly fine. Sarah isn't in the Jurassic World movies, but this is a nice homage to her resourcefulness and bravery.
Ellie Sattler's Family
Involving family is something that happens in every Jurassic Park movie, but fans who haven't seen Jurassic Park III may not realize that the children and spouse Ellie mentions to Alan during their reunion actually appeared in that movie.
No explanation was given as to why Alan and Ellie were separated after Jurassic Park, or why she decided to marry Mark the diplomat, but it might have contributed to the film's poor standing within the franchise. Needless to say, it was appropriate to include the comment, not only to make Jurassic Park III feel part of the conversation but also to fix a plotline that felt superfluous at the time.
Dodgson Getting Killed The Same Way Dennis Nedry Did
A character that only appears briefly in Jurassic Park, Lewis Dodgson recruits Dennis Nedry to steal embryo samples from InGen and conceal them in the bottom of a dummy Barbasol can. When Nedry gets killed by a Dilophosaurus before making it to the rendezvous point, Dodgson never gets his samples, yet manages to become CEO of Biosyn years later.
In The Lost World novel, Dodgson died by T-Rex, but in the movie, that death was given to the new character Peter Ludlow. Still, Dodgson gets a similarly gruesome comeuppance this time, with his crimes against nature ensuring that he dies exactly the way Nedry did, even holding the same Barbasol can. Including Dodgson as a character is a callback in itself, and truly makes the franchise feel like it goes full circle, since without him, Nedry would never have shut down all the systems in the park and caused the catastrophe in the first place.
T-Rex Representing The Jurassic Park Logo
Towards the end of the movie, the T-Rex squares off against the Giganotosaurus and passes through a circular portion of the Biosyn enclosure, and for a moment its silhouette represents the iconic Jurassic Park logo which ordinarily portrays the skeletal silhouette of a T-Rex.
It's a clever Easter egg that pays homage to the franchise's long legacy. Much like Rexy, who continues to dominate her opponents and survive for decades, Jurassic Park is here to stay, even if Jurassic World: Dominion marks the ending chapter of this story.