Thursday, December 20, 2007
Restless Planet
Restless Planet DubaiSo by now I bet you've seen the screaming headlines "A REAL LIFE JURASSIC PARK COMING TO DUBAI!!"

Ugh.

I really hate to be the wet blanket -- well, no, wait, I acutally enjoy being the wet blanket.

I enjoyed the heck out of calling shenanigans on Dubailand in June (see Dubailand) and then last month I coined the phrase "the Hydropolis Equation" for all of those splashily announced, never built projects (see DuBiotech and the Hydropolis Equation).

And this whole "Restless Planet" thing stinks almost as badly as Hydropolis did.

To back up a bit the Restless Planet is a proposed $1 billion theme park in Dubai that will feature 109 animatronic dinosaurs of 40 different species in the entertainment and business development area called City of Arabia.

Oh, and it's supposed to open next year.

The developers, the Ilyas and Mastafa Galadari Group, have released promotional videos showing a Tyrannosaurus Rex charging at visitors.

Um, haven't I seen this a few times before? Namely in 1996 at Universal Studios Hollywood with their Jurassic Park River Adventure. Or in 1998 at Disney's Animal Kingdom's Dinosaur (Countdown to Extinction) attraction? Or Disney's interactive Lucky the Dinosaur at California Adventure and Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Or maybe we can go back four decades to the 1964 World's Fair and Walt Disney's Primeval World display (now a feature on the Disneyland Railroad)?

But Restless Planet is going to be a 500,000 square foot recreation of our planet at a time when dinosaurs roamed!

And these dinosaurs will contain embedded potentiometers and motion sensors so they can follow visitors with their eyes, track specific colors of clothing, regulate their own movements, and even lunge at them!

I ask, is "potentiometer" even a word?

But paleontologist Jack Horner, who had previously worked with Steven Spielberg on dino-movie Jurassic Park, is consulting with the developers!

He also, however, consulted on Jurassic Park III, which blows all his credibility in my book. That movie was horrible.

But no, the creators of the BBC's television series Walking with Dinosaurs are developing "the graphics" for Restless Planet!

What "graphics"? This is a fully themed environment! There are no "graphics".

Ugh. This thing stinks. I am so calling shenanigans on this new "Hydropolis Equation".

Here's the video from the Ilyas and Mastafa Galadari Group:

 
posted by Josh at 1:20 PM |


6 Comments:
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At December 20, 2007 5:14 PM, Blogger RA

Sounds like a load of baloney (bologna?) to me.

And yes, potentiometer IS a word. :)

 

At December 20, 2007 6:22 PM, Blogger Josh

Ooooooh, well gol-ly, who's the big scientist who knows the word "potentiometer"?

Lookit you, science queen!

But what does it mean?!?

 

At December 20, 2007 7:23 PM, Blogger Tuan

I saw Matt Lauer's story on these dinos. Maybe over there in sandland you don't get to see The Today Show, but they actually had these Robodinos on camera and they did all of those things. The lunges and tracking. Matt was really close to being knocked off camera a few times. So yes I would say that park visitors will not be able to walk freely with them. And I will have to ask for the immediate revolking of your claim of shenanigans.

 

At December 20, 2007 8:13 PM, Blogger Josh

I'll revoke my shenanigans when one of those robotic bastards eats Matt Lauer.

Then.

And only then.

 

At December 20, 2007 9:39 PM, Blogger RA

Potentiometer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
A potentiometer is a variable tapped resistor that can be used as a voltage divider.

A form of potentiometer is used as an instrument to measure the potential (or voltage) in a circuit...

 

At December 21, 2007 8:10 AM, Blogger Josh

Okay, okay, so "potentiometer" is a real word.

Still, how will this help the dino follow visitors with their eyes, track specific colors of clothing, regulate their own movements, and even lunge at them?

 


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