James Cameron has taken a momentary break from getting carried away with the whole Avatar thing and revealed that once upon a time he was only a few hours away from directing Jurassic Park. Thankfully, unlike nature, Cameron did not find a way.

Steven Spielberg mercifully beat him to the punch by signing the rights to Michael Crichton’s book first, but until then, Cameron was all set to make Jurassic Park into a dark, terrifying, ultra-violent affair, similar to his classic sci-fi horror Aliens.

Thankfully, Cameron isn’t bitter. “when I saw the film, I realised that I was not the right person to make the film, he [Spielberg] was… Dinosaurs are for 8-year-olds. We can all enjoy it, too, but kids get dinosaurs and they should not have been excluded for that.

Well, quite right. It’s hard to think of a Cameron-directed Jurassic Park being anything other than a basic re-tread of Aliens. That we came so close to being robbed of one of the greatest family blockbusters of all time is a sobering thought.

Imagine it; Jurassic Park itself as a dark, foreboding, rain-battered hell-hole, those iconically garish jeeps painted black and equipped with guns. The wonder of seeing these beautiful creatures for the first time? Gone; replaced by savage, vicious monsters (that mostly come at night). Jeff Goldblum? Definitely an android. No question. Everyone important flying away relatively unscathed at the end? Not a hope. And little Timmy? Poor little Timmy. He would have had his innards torn out by a raptor in the first act. (Well, alright, maybe that part we could get along with).

None of this ever came to pass, though, and instead we can look forward to James Cameron’s multitude of Avatar sequels and prequels and whatever-else-he-can-milk-out-of-this-quels. If, however, you’re more inclined to revisit Spielberg’s classic, why not try our Jurassic Park drinking game?

Alternatively, it’s being re-released in 3D on 19th July 2013, so hold on to yer butts!