The Dodgson problem

We all know and love Lewis Dodgson, but he appeared only briefly in the first JP and we never see or hear from Biosyn again. And of course, Cameron Thor is no longer around to reprise the role any time soon.

It's been hinted that other biotech companies may play a part in the upcoming film(s), and that obviously brings Biosyn to mind. If that's the case, do you want to see Dodgson again? Should he be recast? Or should Biosyn be helmed by a different character altogether?

Personally, I'd rather see another character altogether. Maybe someone from the novels like Jeff Rossiter, and just give them Dodgson's cold attributes. I'm not really a fan of recasting actors, especially in a universe such as JP's.

Yeah, they could recast but including the Dodgson character at all may just feel inappropriate for the filmmakers. So I don't expect to see him in future films, but I do really hope to see Biosyn somewhere.

my guess is that they'll use some new character as an expy of Dodgson and, in all likelihood, fill his role from the TLW novel if and when it gets to that

I would like to see a new version of Dodgson. The time gap means they can recast him quite safely as well.Maybe a version of the character thats older and more 'hands on'.

that's actually a good point, Sickle--kinda like how casting different VAs for Batman and Joker in Arkham Origins still worked because they're supposed to be younger versions of the characters, so some other actor in their late 50s/early 60s would work since Dodgson would realistically have lost a bit of hair or started graying as well as having a bit of a change to his voice

A new character, I think. Perhaps a different 'rivaling' corporation as well. Biosyn could have been used twenty years ago, but now I think they should try something else.

Oshronosaurus wrote:

that's actually a good point, Sickle--kinda like how casting different VAs for Batman and Joker in Arkham Origins still worked because they're supposed to be younger versions of the characters, so some other actor in their late 50s/early 60s would work since Dodgson would realistically have lost a bit of hair or started graying as well as having a bit of a change to his voice

Plus for most of his onscreen-appearance Dodgson wore a thick brimmed hat and dark sunglasses. Technically since we never get a good look at his face uncovered you could say its fair game for a recast.

another good point, Sickle

TheRexMan22 wrote:

A new character, I think. Perhaps a different 'rivaling' corporation as well. Biosyn could have been used twenty years ago, but now I think they should try something else.

well to be fair, BioSyn was never namedropped in the film canon even if the games used it for all its worth. if an expy of Dodgson is used instead of Dodgson himself, it would still make sense for BioSyn to be used since you could easily reason that it was a different corporation that Dodgson and Nedry were working for back in JP1 (and iirc the company's name isn't mentioned in JPTG, either)

if it's not BioSyn, though, then i bet that Grendel corporation from some of the earlier JP4 drafts and ideas will be used instead (it was called Grendel, right?)

Even if you can not recast him you could easily get around it by saying that the characters daughter or son is a new villain

I don't think Biosyn will appear in JW2, to be honest. I would love to see them and that's the perfect time to introduce them, but I think it will be another company with InGen...I would love to see Dodgson appear as a true villain like he was in TLW novel, you could easilly replace CT for another actor, since he appeared so little in JP, just the fans will remember.

If I was to pick a Dodgson I would cast him as Woody Harrelson.

It is the easiest recast to do.

Nedryland wrote:

If I was to pick a Dodgson I would cast him as Woody Harrelson.

It is the easiest recast to do.

Same here. I can see Woody doing Dodgson just fine.

They can make a new villain character (even Wu) and dropping a like like "We tried to get this technology by bribing that disgusting Dennis Neddry 25 years ago" and everybody will make the connection. It is not that bad that Dogson himself is absent (althought recasting would be pretty easy, I do not know how that actor/inmate looks without the glasses).

(Hi everyone! not a daily user from JPL but happy to see the community moving again!)

What about the son of Dodgson? (no pun intended)

Nedryland wrote:

If I was to pick a Dodgson I would cast him as Woody Harrelson.

It is the easiest recast to do.

Agreed very much here. He is the splitting image of an older Dodgson.

I would absolutely love to see Dodgson again after all these years, even though he would need to be recast. I'm not usually in favor of recasting characters, but as others have pointed out, this would be such an easy recast. Harrelson or Clark Gregg look like perfect matches to take over the role. Most regular movie-goers probably wouldn't even be able to tell that it's a different actor.

Although by recasting the character, it might draw negative attention to Cameron Thor and his criminal charges. At the least, Dodgson should be mentioned. Maybe the characters could mention that Dodgson got sent to prison for reckless and illegal experiments. But if the filmmakers really don't want any negative publicity to be associated with the film, then they might just cut Dodgson out entirely to eliminate any connection with Thor, even though he wouldn't actually be involved with the film. Or maybe I'm just over-thinking.  

Biosyn is something else I really want to see, even though it is just a name. There actually is a real biotech company called biosyn Corporation in California. And then there's Bio-Synthesis, Inc. in Lewisville, Texas. Considering that, I wonder if the filmmakers would even be allowed to use the Biosyn name, especially if the fictional Biosyn were to be portrayed as an evil corporation that engages in illegal experiments and whatnot. It makes me wonder if there was a reason they went with "Grendel Corporation" for the Sayles script. "Grendel" isn't the worst name I've ever heard, but "Biosyn" just sounds cooler and would be a nice reference to the novels.

owenpratt wrote:

What about the son of Dodgson? (no pun intended)

Personally, I would prefer to see Dodgson himself rather than a family member.

My best guess is they'll joke make a new character that suits his role rather than re-cycling Dodgson. Granted, it would be interesting to see him return because he does play an essential part of events in the JP novel canon, albeit behind closed doors. But it's better to just write new characters when developing a new (and solid) story.

I say cast Clark Gregg, the guy who plays Phil Coulson, as Dodgson.

Problem solved.

I think enough time has passed that anything could have happened to Dodgson to simply write him out. Maybe a passing remark that attempts were made to steal embryos in the past or something...

But I really hope that BioSyn is brought to the big screen somehow. Officially. Although, it seems Jurassic World is taking taking the direction of InGen as the big corporate bad. It might be over kill to have both. I don't know.

BioSyn should have links to the weapon's development team that was in Jurassic World. Perhaps the insider is linked to BioSyn. Maybe Wu has secretly been taken to BioSyn to start work on the next stage of dinosaur evolution...to create some kind of virus.

You'd think biological warfare would go hand in hand with dinosaur development/cloning. Imagine all the diseases and virus's you'd be able to also create from dinosaur DNA and then maybe even work on a human version.

hell, maybe Biosyn was actually bought out by InGen at some point after they made their comeback with Jurassic World?

Those are interesting ideas you two. That could give them a chance to have the corporation return and link it well to Wu's mysterious send off.

I wish they had introduced BioSyn in Jurassic World as the "bad guy" and not turned InGen into some sort of biological weapons developer. It would make more sense, with the novel canon, to have BioSyn be involved. I like the idea that perhaps it was BioSyn insider that was actually controlling Wu and his actions.

However, I feel they've now used all the plot intended for BioSyn else where in the movies. TLW has InGen trying to capture their own dinosaurs instead of BioSyn like the Novel. Jurassic World had InGen stealing its own work from Masrani. Those two plot devises now seem used up to me and would be repetitive if reintroduced. Perhaps there is a way but I;m not sure what it is.

As for Dodgson, recast him as an older guy who looks like him. Its a good shout out to original fans and would maybe help recover the old school Jurassic Park fandom from the new school Jurassic World fandom.

Finally -InGen Dinosaurs = Weyland Yutani Aliens, is all I can think of when it comes to weaponized dinosaurs but the idea of using viruses or something that may be within the DNA for biological weapons does sound good.

personally, i prefer to think of military dinos as being more like BOWs from Resident Evil


but like i said before, i think re-using Grendel from earlier JP4 drafts is more likely than Biosyn showing, being Biosyn in all but name. if we're lucky Biosyn will be namedropped as a nod to JP:TG ("This is the biggest breach of security since Biosyn tried stealing embryos in the first park!", something like that). since Bayonna is apparently drawing alot from the novels for JP5, i think we can probably expect to see Dodgson or a facsimile of him

Considering that Biosyn was never mentioned by name in the movies, a recast Dodgson could technically be from this Grendel corp?

So there is a small chance he could reappear.

Oshronosaurus wrote:

personally, i prefer to think of military dinos as being more like BOWs from Resident Evil

That is the best idea out of the lot but I'm still not a fan of military dinosaurs. Not in the JP franchise anyway.

At best I would accept Biosyn releasing dinosaurs in areas of Africa which cause chaos unseen in the wild before, Biosyn do so as the dinosaurs have been contaminated with DX, a virus which devastates live stock and can be transmitted by bite, dung and insect bites (which is incredibility common in Africa) Biosyn do this as they already have the cure for DX and want to make billions distributing it etc.

For Dodgeson there is only one man I want to play him and that is Woody Harrelson.

I am glad to see so many people want Dodgson back. And yeah that other people agree with me that Woody Harrelson has just the right amount of intensity to play him.

Thanks to Jurassic World intel, now we know BioSyn exists in Jurassic Film Universe. And, J.A.Bayona read Crichton's novel for movie. So, I think BioSyn and Dodgson will come back next movie.

imo, I feel like Dodgson would be nice to have in a villain role for JW2, but I think that is as likely as a cyborg Nedry returning from the dead. Chances are if they have Biosyn, they will just make a new character and make reference to Dodgson instead.

Hope he's back or a new villain that has the same personality as Dodgson. We got 2 new casts so maybe one is the villain? Or both?


Hope the villain is pretty strong in this movie.