| Genre: | Animation |
| Based On: | The Flintstones |
| Director: | Joseph Barbera |
| Voices: | Frank Welker Russi Taylor Nick Jameson Rob Paulsen Gary Owens |
| Music: | Gary Lionelli |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Executive Producer: | Buzz Potamkin |
| Editor: | Paul Douglas |
| Runtime: | 7 minutes |
| Company: | Hanna-Barbera Cartoons |
| Network: | Cartoon Network |
Dino: The Great Egg-Scape is a 1997 American animated short film and a spin-off of The Flintstones starring Dino, the Flintstone family's pet dinosaur. Directed by Joseph Barbera and produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, it originally aired as part of What a Cartoon! on Cartoon Network on March 5, 1997.[1]
Dino is working as a night watchman at the Bedrock Museum. When a last-of-its-kind golden and green-spotted brontosaurus egg is stolen while he's sleeping on duty, the museum curator orders Dino to find the egg or else he loses his job. While police cars are pursuing the thief, the egg falls out of the thief's vehicle and rolls into the Flintstones house just as Dino is returning home. Dino is happy to see the returned egg and the baby brontosaurus breaks out of his shell. The baby starts crying because he is hungry, so Dino begins feeding him plenty of milk and food, causing the brontosaurus to suddenly grow into a gigantic creature. Dino also panics when he sees a special news bulletin on TV in which a sketch artist mistakenly identifies Dino as the thief who stole the egg.
The huge baby brontosaurus escapes the Flintstones house and begins devouring anything in his path with Dino in hot pursuit. Eventually, the baby is happily reunited with his mother brontosaurus and as they walk away together, the baby waves goodbye to a tearful Dino. The museum curator is happy and amusingly says to Dino: "Sometimes to make an omelette, you have to break an egg!"
Fred Seibert became president of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons in 1992 and helped guide the struggling animation studio into its greatest output in years with shows like 2 Stupid Dogs and . Seibert wanted the studio to produce short cartoons, in the vein of the Golden age of American animation. Although a project consisting of 48 shorts would cost twice as much as a normal series,[2] Seibert's pitch to Cartoon Network involved promising 48 chances to "succeed orfail," opened up possibilities for new original programming, and offered several new shorts to the thousands already present in Warner Bros. via the Turner Entertainment library. According to Seibert, quality did not matter much to the cable operators distributing the struggling network, they were more interested in promising new programs.[3]
Seibert's idea for the project was influenced heavily by Looney Tunes. William Hanna, with partner Joseph Barbera, as well as veteran animator Friz Freleng, taught Seibert how the shorts of the Golden age of American animation were produced. As was the custom in live action film and television, the company did not pay each creator for the storyboard submitted and pitched. For the first time in the studio's history, individual creators could retain their rights, and earn royalties on their creations.[4]