Alan Grant

Alan Grant is one of the main characters in the Jurassic Park franchise, serving as the main protagonist of the first and third movies. He is a paleontologist who was invited by John Hammond to his theme park, Jurassic Park. Since then he is involved with the dinosaurs.

Alan's fate is very different in the various canons: in Operation Genesis he only leads excavations and never encounters the actual creatures, while in Jurassic Park Adventures: Prey he will live years on a research center to study the creatures. In all media he is socially awkward. He is played by Sam Neil who also played John Trent.

Jurassic Park
In Jurassic Park Alan Grant is a world renowned paleontologist working at a dig site just outside Snakewater, Montana. He is described in the script as:

DR ALAN GRANT, mid-thirties, a ragged-looking guy with intense concentration you wouldn't want to get in the way of.

He was invited by John Hammond to his theme park: Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar. He and his partner Ellie Sattler accepted the offer, in exchange for a further three years of dig funding. When they arrived, he was astonished by the sight of a Brachiosaurus eating and wondering the area. Dr. Alan Grant saw how the DNA was extracted and witnessed the birth of a Velociraptor.

But the day quickly turned upside down when the Tyrannosaurus Rex escaped her exhibit and other carnivores made Dr. Alan Grant run for his life. He protected Lex Murphy and Tim Murphy while they tried to make it through the park. This included evading a falling Land cruiser down a 20 foot tree, running from a herd of Gallimimus, and climbing over an electric fence. Lex was able to get to the Visitor Center's computer room and restart all of the systems in the park. Grant and the kids were then attacked by raptors and made it to the front of the Visitor Center where Hammond picked them up. Grant told Hammond that he decided not to endorse his park and Hammond agreed. They got on a helicopter and left the island. He grew to like kids during the experience on the island.

Jurassic Park III
Dr. Grant appears again in Jurassic Park III, since the first movie a lot has changed. Grant has continued to work as a paleontologist, this time at a dig site near Fort Peck Lake, Montana. His relationship with Ellie has ended. Now he has a new partner in Billy Brennan, his apparent protege, but it is Grant who must rein in Billy's headstrong tendencies.

He visits Ellie and her family. In a way, he envies Ellie her happy family and wonders why he shies away from marriage and fatherhood.

While they where flying over the island, Dr. Alan grant notices that the pilot is going to land. Dr. Grant begins to protest but is knocked unconscious by Cooper,one of the mercenaries hired by the Kirbys. When Grant wakes up, they have landed on the island already. Then after a failed take off disrupted by a Spinosaurus, Grant and the others are trapped on the island. Grant discovers that the Kirby's are not wealthy or married, just middle class people who were searching for their son, Eric, who had gotten lost on the island eight weeks before. After the Kirby's realize Grant had never been on Isla Sorna, he leads the group, being the only person who has been on this experience. Grant, using his knowledge of dinosaurs, survives with the Kirby's and an injured Billy.

He gave lectures on the intelligence of raptors, however, his listeners were only interested in the events in 1993, and the San Diego incident. He stated nothing could get him to The Five Deaths (Isla Sorna/SiteB). He was later bribed into going to Isla Sorna by so-called wealthy couple Kirby and his wife Amanda Kirby on an aerial tour. Dr. Alan Grant invited his paleontology colleague Billy Brennan to accompany him on the trip.

Dr. Grant's hat
One of the most apparent characteristics of Dr. Grant is his cowboy hat. In the first movie he always wears a hat, until it is blown from his head by the T. rex. In Jurassic Park III he is again wearing a hat at the dig, in the plane and at the island. He loses his hat in the Aviary while fleeing from the Pteranodons. At the end of the movie, when Billy and Alan meet again, Billy hands over Alan's hat. "Look, I've saved your hat." Alan responds rather jokingly, "Well that's the important thing," and immediately puts it on his head.

Grant's habit to wear a hat and his devotion to it is not just an odd characteristic of Grant. For many paleontologists hats are very important. Jack Horner wrote about it in his book How to build a dinosaur:

"I can't say hats are as precious to paleontologists as they are to Texans, but they can be something of a signature, or talisman... Excavations are never, ever done in the shade. Where there is erosion and exposure, there is inevitable sun, and a hat, which is absolutely necessary, can gather memories and significance."

Alan Grant's books
In the various canons of the Jurassic Park Series Alan Grant writes a number of books, of at least the first two it is The Lost World of the Dinosaurs clear that they had become popular.

It is clear from the film Jurassic Park that Dr. Grant argued in this book that dinosaurs evolved into birds. It was also fully illustrated.

In Jurassic Park Adventures: Survivor a couple of quotes from the book appear:

''When (the sauropods) ate North America empty, to travelled south to South America until that was empty. They just ate themselves out of existence.''

''Many scientists believe the dinosaurs never really died out 65 million years ago. These scientists believe dinosaurs live on today - as birds. The dinosaurs were too large and their food supply is too small, so the dinosaurs became a likely example of natural selection - in short, they were forced to adapt or perish.''

Book about Jurassic Park
In Jurassic Park III Eric mentions a book that Alan Grant wrote about the Isla Nublar Incident. Eric sensed from this book that Alan somewhat disliked dinosaurs after the incident.

Pteranodon book
At the end of Jurassic Park Adventures: Flyers Alan Grants says he's planning to write a book about Pteranodons and their attack of Universal Studios.

Jurassic Park inspired games

 * Alan Grant is the main playable character in the Jurassic Park SNES game. His appearance is based on the first film. He is armed with a gun.
 * He is also playable in the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis game alongside the Velociraptor.
 * Alan Grant is the main playable character in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Handheld game)
 * He is again playable in Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues and Jurassic Park III: Island Attack.
 * He appears in Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis where he is in charge of the fossil hunting teams and fossil market. He will inform the player of any new discoveries, shipments in the fossil market and related news.
 * He makes a cameo appearance in the ending of the arcade Jurassic Park game.
 * He is a playable character in the Jurassic Park mobile game, alongside Malcolm.

Comic books
Alan Grant is the main character in the comic series Jurassic Park: Raptor, Jurassic Park: Raptors Attack and Jurassic Park: Raptors Hijack.

Trivia

 * In the film, Grant dislikes the kids at first, contrary to the father-like figure in the first Jurassic Park novel.
 * Grant is based on, a real-life paleontologist that helped the movie crew in making dinosaurs bases on facts.