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For articles with similar title, see Dinosaur (disambiguation)
Dinosaurs is an American family sitcom television series that aired on ABC from April 26, to July 20, . The show, about a family of anthropomorphic dinosaurs, was produced by Michael Jacobs Productions and Jim Henson Television in association with Walt Disney Television and distributed by Buena Vista International, Inc.[3][4] The characters were designed by Henson team member Kirk Thatcher.
News stories written at the time of the show's premiere highlighted Dinosaurs' connection to Jim Henson, who had died the year before. Henson conceived the show in , according to an article in The New York Times, adding he wanted it to be a sitcom, but about a family of dinosaurs. Until the success of The Simpsons, according to Alex Rockwell, a vice president of the Henson organization, "people thought it was a crazy idea."[5]
In the late s, Henson worked with William Stout, a fantasy artist, illustrator and designer, on a feature film starring animatronic dinosaurs with the working title of The Natural History Project; a article in The New Yorker said that Henson continued to work on a dinosaur project (presumably the Dinosaurs concept) until the "last months of his life."[6]
The television division of The Walt Disney Company began working on the series in for CBS before the series landed on ABC, which Disney eventually acquired.[7]
Rafael Montemayor Aguiton of Vulture wrote that upon premiere the show "was a hit", and Michael Jacobs stated that this was why the network did not interfere much in the production.[8]
Aguiton wrote that ratings suffered from the show being moved to different time slots on the network.[8] The animatronics made the show relatively expensive, with Stuart Pankin recalling that "I heard it was the most expensive half-hour TV show, at least at that point" and that this contributed to the cancellation.[8]
Dinosaurs is initially set in 60,000,000 BC in Pangaea. The show centers on the Sinclair family: Earl Sneed Sinclair (father), Fran Sinclair (née Phillips ' mother), their three children (son, Robbie; daughter, Charlene; and infant, Baby Sinclair) and Fran's mother, Ethyl.
Earl's job is to push over trees for the Wesayso Corporation with his friend and coworker Roy Hess, where they work under the supervision of their boss, Bradley P. Richfield.
The focus of the show's plot is the Sinclair family: Earl, Fran, Robbie, Charlene, Baby, and Ethyl. The family name is a reference to the Sinclair Oil Corporation, which had prominently featured a dinosaur as its logo and mascot for decades, under the belief that petroleum deposits were formed during the age of the dinosaurs.[9] Other character and family names throughout the series often referred to rival petroleum companies or petroleum products. For example: Phillips, Hess, B.P., Richfield, and Ethyl, among others.
The following characters are not in the Unisaurs category below:
Character Voice Body Face/Head Species Comments Gary Steve Landesberg N/A N/A Dilophosaurus Gary is a 50 ft. dinosaur whose feet can only be seen. He appeared in the Dinosaurs episode "High Noon". He takes a romantic interest in Fran, and challenges Earl for her. Gary has been classified as a Dilophosaurus. Dilophosaurus was actually smaller than Megalosaurus in reality. Blarney Steve Whitmire Steve Whitmire Steve Whitmire Deinonychus Blarney is a red Deinonychus hand-puppet character on Dinosaurs, intended as a spoof of Barney the Dinosaur. He appeared in Dinosaur TV segments in two fourth-season episodes ' "Terrible Twos" and "Into the Woods". Blarney is adored by young children, but is less popular with older viewers. He appears on videotapes released as part of the Blarney Home Video Library. Parents who order will "get a new video delivered to their child every hour for the next decade". Titles spoof not only the Barney franchise, but other commercials for mail-order videos, from fitness and health tapes to bridge, computers, and semi-religious quests. Henri Poupon Tim Curry Allan Trautman (puppeteer) N/A Archaeopteryx Henri Poupon is an Archaeopteryx that appeared in the episode "Getting to Know You". Henri is the father of Francois Poupon and husband of Simone Poupon. The Poupons are a family of birds who come from an unnamed country, clearly based on France, that is outside of Pangea. Henri is irritated by exchange student Charlene Sinclair. He is disappointed by the consumption of his own son, but feels that a big screen TV would help the healing process. Simone Poupon Julianne Buescher Julianne Buescher Simone Poupon is an Archaeopteryx that appeared in the episode "Getting to Know You". She is the wife of Henri and the mother of Francois. Francois Poupon Bruce Lanoil Bruce Lanoil Francois Poupon is an Archaeopteryx that appeared in the episode "Getting to Know You". He is the son of Henri Poupon and Simone Poupon. Francois was eaten by Baby Sinclair. Decker Thom Sharp Pons Maar Rickey Boyd Glyptodon Decker is a Glyptodon that appeared in the episode "Monster Under the Bed". When thought to be the titular monster that has been lurking under Baby Sinclair's bed, it turns out that he was lurking under their house which they built over his house when he captured him, Charlene, and Robbie. Decker did mention that he had to get a permit to do some tunnel digging. When Earl and Fran find out about the situation that ended up involving the police and a broadcast from Howard Handupme that covered the hostage situation, Baby Sinclair suggested that they move the Sinclair house off of Decker's house. Everyone accepted that idea after Howard Handupme did a consultation with someone as it is moved a short distance away from where Decker's house is. Georgie Allan Trautman (normal voice), Edward Asner (evil voice) Jack Tate Allan Trautman European hippopotamus Georgie is a dinosaur dressed as a full bodied European hippopotamus. He is a children's TV icon and host of "The Georgie Show" who appeared in the Dinosaurs episode "Georgie Must Die." He appears as kind-hearted. Georgie is actually a megalomaniac planning to take over the world through his financial empire and the devotion of the dinosaur children. After Earl was arrested for impersonating Georgie, Fran invited Georgie down to the police department to clear things up where he showed off his bad side when alone with Earl while stating that he was not pleased with Earl posing as him and reveals his evil plans to take over the minds of children. Later that night, Earl learned about his motives from Jean-Claude and Brigitte upon them springing Earl from the police department. Earl later fought Georgie on his television show and ended up defeating him. During the credits on the DNN Pre-Prime News, Howard Handupme reported about the resulting fallout caused by last week's melee on "The Georgie Show" that sparked a Justice Department investigation on the Georgie empire leading to the arrest of Georgie himself on the charges of tax evasion and racketeering. It was also mentioned by Handupme that Earl was pardoned of all criminal charges by the Chief Elder who is also a parent, presented Earl with the Key to the City, and thanking Earl for in his words "giving that chuckling carpet bag the well-deserved shot in the chops". Roy ended up taking his place on TV as the eponymous "Uncle Roy." Like Blarney, Georgie is also a parody of Barney.Outside of the recurring characters, there are a group of dinosaur characters called Unisaurs. They are customizable dinosaur characters similar to the Whatnots from The Muppet Show and the Anything Muppets from Sesame Street. Some of the Unisaurs are Full-Bodied while the others are hand-puppets. They come in different types.
The following are the Full-Bodied Unisaurs:
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May 24,(
-05-24
)ABC224September 18,( )
May 6,(
-05-06
)322September 18,( )
July 2,(
-07-02
)4147June 1,( )
July 20,(
-07-20
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)7September 6,( )
November 10,(
-11-10
)SyndicationAlthough Dinosaurs is targeted at a family audience, the show touched upon multiple topical issues, which include environmentalism, endangered species, women's rights, sexual harassment, LGBT rights, objectification of women, censorship, civil rights, body image, steroid use, allusions to masturbation (in the form of Robbie doing the solo mating dance), drug abuse, racism (in the form of a dispute between the two-legged dinosaurs and the four-legged dinosaurs), peer pressure, rights of indigenous peoples (in the form of the dinosaurs interacting with cavepeople), corporate crime, government interference in parenting, and pacifism.[10]
In the episode "I Never Ate for My Father," in lieu of carnivorism, Robbie chooses to eat vegetables, which the show uses as a metaphor for homosexuality, communism, drug abuse and counter culture.[11]
The 2-part episode "Nuts to War" was a satire of American involvement in the Gulf War, with two-legged dinosaurs going to war with four-legged dinosaurs over pistachios instead of oil.[12]
In the final season, "The Greatest Story Ever Sold" (a take-off of The Greatest Story Ever Told) references religion when the Sinclair family becomes eager to learn the meaning of their existence. The Elders dictate a new system of beliefs, and the entire cast (with the exception of Robbie) abandons science to blindly follow the newly popular "Potato-ism".
Another religious-themed episode was "The Last Temptation of Ethyl", in which Ethyl willingly allows a televangelist to exploit her near-death experience to extort money from followers. She backs out after having a second such experience, where instead of heaven, she experiences a "place not so nice": an existence surrounded by nothing but multiple Earl Sneed Sinclairs.
Several jokes in the series were at the expense of television shows in general. Earl often wants to watch TV rather than do something more practical, and several jokes accuse television of "dumbing down" the population and making it lazy.
Captain Action Figure shows up in children's programming that Fran mistakes for a commercial. Whenever Captain Action Figure mentions a product, the screen flashes "Tell Mommy I WANT THAT!". Before the appearance of Georgie, Dinosaurs used a puppet reminiscent of Barney the Dinosaur named "Blarney" in two episodes. During his appearances, members of the Sinclair family commented on his annoying characteristics and failure to teach anything to children.
The characters will sometimes break the fourth wall as well, especially Baby. An example of such is seen in the episode "Nature Calls" (Season 3, Episode 1) when Fran and Earl spell out words in front of Baby during an argument, who, after looking at the camera and saying "This could get ugly", proceeds to spell out "They think I can't spell" with his alphabet blocks.
The final episode of Dinosaurs produced and aired on ABC was intended as the series finale[a] and depicts the irresponsible actions of the dinosaurs toward their environment, and the ensuing Ice Age which leads to their demise.
Stuart Pankin, the voice of Earl, stated that the ending "was a simplistic and heartfelt social comment, yet it was very powerful" with "subtlety" being a defining aspect.[8]
The television series creators decided to make this finale as a way of ending the series as they knew the show could be canceled when they created season 4. Michael Jacobs stated that "We certainly wanted to make the episode to be educational to the audience", and as people knew dinosaurs were no longer alive, "The show would end by completing the metaphor and showing that extinction."[8] Ted Harbert, president of ABC, expressed discomfort at the ending in a call, but allowed it to go forward.[8]
Jacobs stated that correspondence from parents revealed that "They understood the creativity in the final episode, and they were sad at the predicament we presented in the story."[8] Pankin stated that "Everybody was at first shocked, but I think it was more of a reaction to the show ending."[8] Pankin stated that he did not remember a significant number of audience members being angry about the ending.[8] In , Jacobs stated that the episode would have trended on social media had it been released that year.[8]
Noel Murray of The A.V. Club stated that the episode "delivered as blunt an environmental message as any major network TV broadcast since The Lorax."[13] Brian Galindo of BuzzFeed described it as being shocking for children.[14]
In the United Kingdom, the show was screened on ITV in and in reruns from to on Disney Channel.[15] In Canada, the show started airing reruns in on The Family Channel and aired them until the late s; the show also aired on CHRO-TV in the early-to-mid s. In Australia, the show started airing on the Seven Network from February through to . In Ireland, in the mid-s, it was shown on a Sunday evening on RTÉ Two (known as network 2 back then). In , it was shown in Italy on Rai 1. The show has also aired on TV3, then moved in to TV2 in New Zealand, KBC in Kenya and M-Net in South Africa. In Brazil the show started airing on Rede Globo from to , on SBT from to , on Band from to , and on Canal Viva in .[16] In Mexico the show was aired on Canal 5.[17]
The first three volumes were released on VHS on December 6, . On May 2, , Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released Dinosaurs: The Complete First and Second Seasons as a four-disc DVD box set. The DVD set includes "exclusive bonus features including a never-before-seen look at the making of Dinosaurs". The complete third and fourth seasons, also a four-disc DVD set, were released on May 1, , with special features, including the episodes not aired on U.S. television. Both sets are currently available only in Region 1.
On September 29, , Hulu acquired the streaming rights to Dinosaurs along with fellow Disney'ABC television properties Home Improvement and Boy Meets World, in addition to fellow TGIF programs Family Matters, Full House, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Perfect Strangers and Step by Step.[18]
Dinosaurs was made available for streaming on Disney+ on January 29, , for the United States.[19]
As of September , the series as a whole has received an approval rating of 91% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.[20] Its first season received an approval rating of 83%, its consensus reads, "Dinosaurs, marries astonishingly expressive puppetry with genuinely funny satire of social norms, making for a forward-thinking prehistoric sitcom."[21] While its fourth season received more critical praise, with a 100% approval rating.[22]
Seven episodes set prior to "Changing Nature", which had not previously aired on ABC, first aired in television syndication in fall , with " Scent of a Reptile " being the final episode to premiere. Ordering on digital platforms varies, however Disney+ now lists the final season episodes in production order ending with "Changing Nature".
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