You may not recognize Michael Crichton's name, but the guy was a low-key genius. The writer and filmmaker was a master at constructing very cool sci-fi universes — emphasis on the science — not too far off from our own. Crichton, who died in 2008, is best known for Jurassic Park; he wrote the screenplay and the novel upon which the 1993 film was based.
Now we have HBO's newest hit Westworld, based on the movie Crichton wrote and directed all the way back in 1973. There are, of course, a couple of obvious similarities between Westworld and Jurassic Park. They're both about futuristic theme parks gone wrong, crafted on the basis of semi-realistic science, and led by arrogant, frosty-haired white men playing God-like figures.
But the Easter egg planted in Sunday's episode — discovered by an astute redditor while the rest of us were just trying to figure out what the fuck was happening on our screens — is amazing.
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In the final scene of the episode, Westworld employee Felix is trying to coax a little dead bird back to life. He's technically just supposed to fix or dismantle the hosts' bodies, but he's secretly been working on his coding skills to resurrect a bird from the park. "Come on, little one," he whispers, trying to coax the creature into being. The bird springs to life.
If that line sounds familiar, it's because you've heard it uttered onscreen before in a very similar scenario. In Jurassic Park, head honcho John Hammond whispers, "Come on, little one," to a hatching baby raptor trying to claw her way out of her shell. And, indeed, the tiny dino hatches.
Also, as anyone who paid attention to Dr. Alan Grant's impassioned science lessons in Jurassic Park knows, birds evolved from dinosaurs. So, there you go. A tiny but perfect homage to Michael Crichton's other masterpiece. Goddamn, we love this show.
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