Alright, we need to talk about one of the most confusing scenes in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. You know the one. The cargo ship Venture crashes into the San Diego dock, everyone on board is dead, and then the T-Rex just casually walks out like it’s been on a rampage. Except… that doesn’t actually make sense. And I’ve spent way too much time trying to figure out what really happened to that crew.
TL;DR
The boat crew that delivered the Venture with the T-Rex to San Diego were killed by raptors that stowed away on the ship, NOT by the Rex (who was sedated in the cargo hold the whole time). The movie doesn't explicitly show this, creating confusion, but clues point to raptors being the real culprits before escaping or dying at sea.
This isn’t just me being pedantic. This is a genuine plot hole that has bothered fans for decades, and honestly? I think I’ve finally pieced together what actually went down on that ship.
The Scene That Broke Everyone’s Brain
Let’s set the stage. The Venture is carrying the adult T-Rex back to San Diego, sedated in the cargo hold. The ship is supposed to dock smoothly, but instead it crashes full speed into the harbor. When the Coast Guard boards, they find a scene of absolute carnage. Blood everywhere. Limbs scattered. The entire crew is dead. And then someone hits a button and the T-Rex stumbles out of the cargo hold, clearly still drugged.
The movie plays it like the Rex killed everyone. Dramatic music, chaos, Rex roaring. But here’s the problem: the Rex was locked in the cargo hold the entire time. We literally see them seal it shut back on Isla Sorna. So how did it kill the crew on deck? How did it get the guy in the crow’s nest? And if the Rex somehow got out, why was it back in the hold, and why was the hold still locked from the outside?
This scene makes absolutely no sense, and it’s driven fans crazy for almost thirty years.
The Raptor Theory (Which Actually Makes Sense)
Here’s what I think happened, and I’m not alone in this theory: Velociraptors stowed away on the ship and killed the crew.
Think about it. We know from every single Jurassic Park movie that raptors are intelligent, pack-hunting killing machines. We know they were loose on Isla Sorna when the InGen team was capturing the Rex. We know they’re perfectly capable of sneaking onto a ship undetected. And we know they can absolutely massacre an entire group of people in minutes.
The evidence is actually there if you look for it. When they’re loading the Rex onto the ship, there’s chaos everywhere. Equipment, cargo, people running around. It would be incredibly easy for a couple of raptors to slip aboard unnoticed. They could hide in cargo containers, in the machinery, anywhere really. These are the same creatures that learned to open doors and set traps. Stowing away on a boat is well within their skill set.
Once the ship is at sea and the crew is relaxed, the raptors strike. They’re in an enclosed space with nowhere to run. It would be a bloodbath. The crew wouldn’t stand a chance. This explains the scattered remains, the blood on deck, the body in the crow’s nest, all of it. Raptors are climbers. A T-Rex is not.
What Happened to the Raptors Then?
This is where the theory gets a bit speculative, but here’s what makes sense to me. After killing the crew, the raptors either jumped ship or died somehow before reaching San Diego. Maybe they fell overboard during the chaos. Maybe they killed each other fighting over territory on the boat. Maybe one of the dying crew members managed to wound them fatally.
The key thing is that raptors are smart enough to escape. If they realized the ship was heading toward civilization, toward more humans and danger, they might have jumped into the ocean and tried to swim back. Would they survive? Probably not. But it’s more plausible than a sedated T-Rex teleporting out of a locked cargo hold to kill people, then teleporting back in.
The Movie’s Own Confusion
Here’s what really frustrates me about this scene: there’s evidence that Spielberg himself might have changed the plot midway through production. Early drafts of the script apparently included raptors on the boat explicitly. There were supposedly scenes filmed of raptors loose on the ship that got cut for time or pacing reasons.
If that’s true, it explains everything. The scene was originally written with raptors as the killers, but when those scenes got cut, we were left with a confusing mess that implies the Rex did it, even though that’s physically impossible. It’s like they edited out the explanation but kept the mystery.
This would also explain why the crew member’s hand is still clutching the cargo hold release lever. In a raptor attack scenario, that makes perfect sense. Someone, in a desperate last attempt to survive or stop the ship, released the only weapon available, the sedated T-Rex. It didn’t work (because the Rex was too drugged to help), but it’s a logical final action from a dying person.
The Alternative Theories (That Don’t Hold Up)
Some people argue that the Rex somehow got out, killed everyone, then got back in and the hold magically re-locked itself. This is nonsense. The locking mechanism is external. A T-Rex can’t lock itself in from the inside.
Others suggest there was a baby Rex on board that did the killing. But we never see a baby, and InGen was only transporting the adult male. Plus, a baby Rex couldn’t reach the crow’s nest or create the level of carnage we see.
The only theory that actually fits all the evidence is raptors. They can climb, they can kill efficiently, they can hide, and they can escape. Everything else requires us to ignore basic physics or assume magical dinosaur abilities.
Why This Matters
You might be thinking, “It’s just a movie, who cares?” But here’s why it matters: The Lost World is already a messy sequel with pacing issues and questionable decisions. This scene is supposed to be the big turning point, the “oh no, the dinosaur is loose in civilization” moment. When the logistics of it don’t make sense, it undermines the entire third act.
If Spielberg had just left in one shot of a raptor tail disappearing over the ship’s railing, or a brief glimpse of raptors in the cargo area, this whole debate would be settled. Instead, we got one of cinema’s most frustrating plot holes, and fans have been arguing about it ever since.
My Final Verdict
The boat crew was killed by Velociraptors that stowed away on the Venture, not by the sedated T-Rex locked in the cargo hold. The raptors either escaped before the ship reached San Diego or died at sea. The scene was poorly edited and lost crucial explanatory footage, leaving audiences confused about what actually happened.
This is my hill, and I’m dying on it. Raptors killed the crew. It’s the only explanation that makes logical sense. And honestly? It would have been a way cooler scene if they’d actually shown it.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go rewatch both movies and get angry about this plot hole all over again.
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