Holy Shit It's a Dinosaur! meme

3 images

A cartoon-style meme edit applying the 'Holy Shit It's a Dinosaur' outburst to two stunned animated characters.
An early animated GIF from the Jurassic Park dinosaur-reveal scene circulated with the 'Holy Shit It's a Dinosaur' meme.
Screenshot of the original 2006 YouTube upload 'Holy Sh*t It's A Dinosaur!' that popularized the meme, with the famous top comment nominating it as 'the national anthem of Earth.'

History

In August 2006, YTMND user ALMusic layered mock-opera lyrics over the Jurassic Park brachiosaurus reveal, turning John Williams' theme into 'Holy Shit It's a Dinosaur!' The song hopped to YouTube via Garry's Mod re-enactments and by 2009 anchored a snowclone template of 'X meets a Dinosaur' anime dubs.

Origin

On August 12, 2006, YTMND user ALMusic uploaded a site pairing the Jurassic Park scene of Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler staring up at a brachiosaurus with original lyrics sung in a mock-operatic voice over John Williams' main theme[4]. The YTMND drew an average score of 4.65 out of 5 and over 915,000 views by August 2011, and a YouTube capture of the original site preserved the bit for viewers outside YTMND[1].

Platform: YTMND / YouTube (viral spread)
Creator: ALMusic
Date: 2006

Overview

The joke rides on register clash: John Williams' reverent Jurassic Park theme paired with a booming opera vocalist yelling painfully obvious profanity about the creature on screen[1]. The audio track is the constant, so any remix that keeps the song intact and swaps the footage still reads as the same bit[4].

Later versions dropped the audio under Garry's Mod machinima, Naruto scenes, and MikuMikuDance choreography, treating the brachiosaurus reveal as a plug-and-play punchline[2][5]. The recognizable moment is always the same: the character's stunned pause, then the sung line hits and the video cuts away.

How It Spread

The song jumped platforms on November 7, 2006, when YouTuber wolfer339 re-staged the same Jurassic Park moment inside Garry's Mod, pulling in Half-Life 2 ragdolls to lip-sync the operatic outburst[2]. That upload cleared 330,000 views by 2011 and pushed a wave of imitator machinima.

On June 16, 2007, YouTuber Nubs926 posted another Garry's Mod rendition that overtook earlier attempts with more than 670,000 views by 2011[3]. The song's next big turn came on September 4, 2009, when Silverknux1991 uploaded 'Hidan meets a Dinosaur,' cutting the audio to a Naruto scene featuring the Akatsuki member[5]. That video kicked off the 'X meets a Dinosaur' snowclone, with remixers plugging in anime, film, and TV characters[4].

A final sub-fad started on June 20, 2010, when NontoxicEggs paired the song with a MikuMikuDance routine, spawning over 40 registered dance response videos that became known as the Dinosaur Meme[6].

How to Use

The template is audio-first: keep the operatic 'holy shit, it's a fucking dinosaur' vocal and the Williams score intact, then cut new footage to match the beats. Common conventions include a slow pan or reveal shot before the vocal drop, followed by a character reaction, and a hard cut on the punchline. Creators typically pick a character known for stoicism or aggression (Hidan, Garry's Mod ragdolls, Vocaloid models) to sharpen the register clash.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Holy Shit It's a Dinosaur!?

A 2006 parody song that dubs mock-opera lyrics over the Jurassic Park main theme, sung over the brachiosaurus reveal scene[1].

Where did Holy Shit It's a Dinosaur! come from?

YTMND user ALMusic uploaded the original site on August 12, 2006, pairing the Jurassic Park clip with newly written lyrics[4].

What does Holy Shit It's a Dinosaur! mean?

The joke is the mismatch between John Williams' grand orchestration and a singer bellowing obvious profanity at the animal on screen[1].

How do you use Holy Shit It's a Dinosaur!?

Remixers keep the audio and swap the visuals for other franchises, following the 'X meets a Dinosaur' snowclone that Silverknux1991's Naruto edit started in 2009[5].