Ian Yorkland: A Jurassic Park Reference In Kyoryuger?

Toei loves dinosaurs, don't they? The amazing thing with the dinosaur Super Sentai series Abaranger and Kyoryuger is that they take place a decade after 1993. 1993 was that year when Toei struck gold in the U.S. with Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers due to Jurassic Park. Then 10 years later they would launch Abaranger and 20 years later would result in Kyoryuger. A possible reference for the two movie characters may have happened. Ian Yorkland shares the same first name with a Jurassic Park character named IAN Malcolm.

It has been some time since I saw the Jurassic Park movie in my childhood. If you've noticed, Ian Malcolm of Jurassic Park wore a similar jacket that Ian Yorkland would wear 20 years later. Both characters have their anti-heroic attitudes. Remember how Ian Malcolm started out as a cocky, know-it-all and both are gag-makers? Well, those traits were passed on to Ian Yorkland though the said character was a womanizer who lost a dear friend. Though both characters will have obvious differences -- any fan of both Super Sentai and Jurassic Park may notice that there are similarities.

Just think of what may be Toei's planning may also be based on celebrating popular culture references. Two years ago we had Kyuranger was the 40th anniversary of Star Wars and the 30th anniversary of Spaceballs. That may explain why Lucky and Garu feel like Lone Starr and Barf in spandex. Also, both Jiban and Janperson are Robocop-inspired heroes too. Winspector feels like a reference to the American classic series Knight Rider. Maybe, you can also think that Star King Bazoo in Changeman is a reference to Ego the Living Planet and Vulgyre is a reference to Galactus. It's no surprise because Marvel Comics one worked with Toei before granting a license to Saban Entertainment. Remember when Saban's X-Men cartoon got promoted back to back with Mighty Morphin'? The history of Marvel, Toei, Saban, and Disney may be more complicated than you think.

I guess Jurassic Park ended up inspiring the creation of Ian Yorkland to start with. I even think that the producers behind Kyoryuger did it on purpose. I think they even said, "Well, let's make a Japanese version of Ian Malcolm. After all, we love pop culture references." Then they decided their own version of Ian will end up with the Kyoryugers as a reference. Both characters named Ian ended up as supporting protagonists on both shows in their own way while having certain differences that drew the line.