Considering that, in the early 1990s, live-action films ranging from "Beetlejuice" to "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" inspired animated series, it should come as no surprise that Universal Pictures had planned a spinoff of the 1993 blockbuster "Jurassic Park." However, unlike so many others that preceded it, this cartoon wasn't intended to be Saturday-morning fare.

"This was not going to be a kiddy show (although kids of all ages, including myself, could enjoy it)," concept artist William Stout revealed on his website, where he's now selling some of his art from the project. "They wanted the show to be a mature prime time series with top writers and state-of-the-art television animation augmented with quite a bit of CG animation."

While that approach, and Stout's "graphic novel"-style concept art, might seem perfect for a franchise spinoff, the "Jurassic Park" animated series never got off the ground, of course.. According to Stout,  a concept trailer was even produced (he owns a copy), and sent to Steven Spielberg for approval. And then ... nothing.

"I heard through the grapevine that he never bothered to watch what we had done," he recounts. "By that time the word was out that he was burnt out on 'Jurassic Park' merchandising and all of the film’s commercial exploitation. So, it never got made."

Perhaps some day that trailer will surface. But until then, you can enjoy -- and possibly purchase -- some of Stout's concept art for the series and imagine what might've been.











(via Collider, From Director Steven Spielberg)