| Runtime: | 23 minutes |
| Developer: | Jim Henson |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Network: | ABC[1] [2] |
| Theme Music Composer: | Bruce Broughton |
| Opentheme: | Bruce Broughton |
| Num Seasons: | 4 |
| Num Episodes: | 65 |
| List Episodes: | List of Dinosaurs episodes |
Dinosaurs is an American family sitcom television series that aired on ABC from April 26, 1991 to July 20, 1994. 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 1988, 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 1980s, 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 1993 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 1990 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.
| Character | Voice | Body | Face/Head | Species | Summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earl Sneed Sinclair | Stuart Pankin | Bill Barretta Tom Fisher (occasionally) | Dave Goelz (Seasons 1–2) Mak Wilson (Seasons 2–4) | Megalosaurus | The patriarch of the Sinclair family, Earl is the protagonist. He is a 43-year-old Megalosaurus and is depicted as being thick-headed and suggestible. Earl works as a Tree Pusher at the WESAYSO Development Corporation. "Sneed" is the maiden name of Earl's mother. | |
| Fran Phillips-Sinclair | Jessica Walter | Mitchel Young Evans (Seasons 1–2) Tony Sabin Prince (Seasons 2–4) Pons Maar (occasionally) | Allan Trautman | Allosaurus | The mother and homemaker of the Sinclair family. Fran is mentioned on the show as being an Allosaurus. On rare occasions, Fran wears fuzzy house slippers. Earl affectionately calls his wife "Frannie". | |
| Robert Mark "Robbie" Sinclair | Jason Willinger | Leif Tilden | Steve Whitmire Rob Mills (occasionally) Julianne Buescher (eyes) | Hypsilophodon | Earl and Fran's son and oldest child, he is a Hypsilophodon. Robbie stands out with his red varsity jacket and bright red sneakers. | |
| Charlene Sinclair | Sally Struthers | Michelan Sisti Star Townsend (occasionally) Arlene Lorre (Season 1, episode 1 only) | Bruce Lanoil | Protoceratops | Earl and Fran's only daughter and middle child, she is a Protoceratops. Charlene stands out by wearing sweaters, necklaces, and earrings. | |
| Baby Sinclair | Kevin Clash | Terri Hardin (arms, Season 1–3) Julianne Buescher (arms, Season 4) | Kevin Clash (head & mouth) John Kennedy (eyes) | Megalosaurus | Earl and Fran's son and youngest child, he is a Megalosaurus as stated by Earl. In the episode "Out of the Frying Pan," Baby is shown as a Ceratosaurus. His legal name is Baby Sinclair, which was given to him by the Chief Elder. Baby is sarcastic and wisecracking. His favorite thing to do is to hit Earl on the head with a frying pan. His catch phrases are "I'm the baby, Gotta love me", "Again," and "Not the mama" (his preferred name for his father Earl, much to his father's chagrin). Earl will often call his youngest son "Junior". For a while, the character was actually christened as "Aaah Aagh I'm Dying You Idiot Sinclair" (the unfortunate last words of a dying Chief Elder who was suffering from a heart attack), but it wasn't until the end of the episode in which he received that hilariously crude name that new Chief Elder Edward R. Hero renamed him "Baby Sinclair" after one of his popular catchphrases. Jacobs stated that the popularity of Baby contributed to the network allowing the creators to run the show as they saw fit stating: "As long as the Baby hit his father over the head with a pot, we could use that to hide anything." |
| Character | Voice | Body | Face/Head | Species | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethyl Hinkleman Phillips | Florence Stanley | Brian Henson (seasons 1–2) Rickey Boyd (seasons 3–4) Kevin Clash (occasionally) David Greenaway (occasionally) Julianne Buescher (face, occasionally) | Edmontonia | Ethyl is an Edmontonia who is Fran's mother, Earl's mother-in-law, and the maternal grandmother of Robbie, Charlene, and Baby. Ethyl comes to live with the Sinclairs and is revealed to have a son named Stan (Fran's brother). Ethyl always wears house slippers and uses a wheelchair. Ethyl enjoys making fun of Earl and hitting him with her cane. | ||
| Roy Danger Hess | Sam McMurray | Pons Maar (body) Julianne Buescher (arms) | David Greenaway | Tyrannosaurus rex | Roy is Earl's co-worker at the WESAYSO Development Corporation and best friend. He is a dimwitted Tyrannosaurus who also has a brother named Roy. | |
| Bradley P. "B.P." Richfield | Sherman Hemsley | Leif Tilden (arms and hands) | Steve Whitmire Rob Mills (occasionally) | Triceratops | B.P. Richfield is Earl, Roy, Ralph, Gus, and Sid's aggressive, heartless and temperamental boss at the WESAYSO Development Corporation where he oversees the Tree Pushers. He is a Triceratops, but has the frill spikes of a Styracosaurus. In episode "Hungry for Love," it is revealed that Mr. Richfield has a daughter named Wendy (in which she there is a slight affair with Robbie) and was known for eating any boyfriend of hers that disappoints him. | |
| Monica DeVertebrae | Suzie Plakson | n/a | Julianne Buescher | Brontosaurus | A Brontosaurus and Fran's best friend who is the only four-legged dinosaur on the show and the Roy's love interest. She is usually seen from the neck up. It took three or four people to operate her neck and head. | |
| Spike (full name unknown) | Christopher Meloni | David Greenaway | N/A | Polacanthus | He is a semi-regular character who resembles a Polacanthus with a bandana, a black leather jacket, and biker boots. Spike is Robbie's best friend who often refers to him as "Scooter." Spike is normally a bad influence on Robbie, whom he enjoys belittling and goading into dangerous and/or humiliating situations. To Spike's credit however, he talked sense into his friend when Robbie used thornoids (sentient anabolic substances) to impress a pretty female classmate. | |
| Ralph Needlenose | Various | Various | Various | Troodon | A Troodon who is a co-worker of Earl and Roy at the WESAYSO Development Corporation. The Full-Bodied costume used for Ralph is often used for one-appearance minor characters. | |
| Gus Spikeback | Various | Various | Various | Ceratosaurus | A Ceratosaurus who is a co-worker of Earl and Roy at the WESAYSO Development Corporation. The Full-Bodied costume used for Gus is often used for one-appearance minor characters. | |
| Sid Turtlepuss | Michelan Sisti | John Kennedy | Michelan Sisti | Psittacosaurus | A Psittacosaurus who is a co-worker of Earl and Roy at the WESAYSO Development Corporation. Sid is seen more than the other characters. He enjoys bagels and donuts. The Full-Bodied costume used for Sid is often used for one-appearance minor characters. | |
| Mr. Pulman | Allan Trautman | Bruce Lanoil (first time) Tom Fisher (later appearances) | Allan Trautman | Troodon | A bespectacled Troodon who is Robbie, Charlene, Mindy, and Spike's teacher at Bob LaBrea High School. The Full-Bodied costume used for Mr. Pulman is often used for one-appearance minor characters. | |
| Mindy | Jessica Lundy | Star Townsend | Julianne Buescher | Corythosaurus | A female Corythosaurus who is Charlene's best friend. There are two different characters with the same name that are both friends of Charlene. There are also two unrelated characters called Mindy:
| |
| Howard Handupme | Kevin Clash | N/A | N/A | Pachycephalosaurus | A Walter Cronkite-esque Pachycephalosaurus who is the newscaster for DNN (short for Dinosaur News Network) which is a spoof of CNN. He is one of a few characters that isn't a Full-Bodied character. | |
| Chief Elder | Various Voices | Various Performers | N/A | Various species | Also known as the Elder-in-Chief, the Chief Elder presides over all of the government in Pangaea. It is assumed that he is the head of the Council of Elders. There had been different Chief Elders in different appearances:
| |
| Mr. Lizard | Allan Trautman | N/A | N/A | Iguanodon | Mr. Lizard is a gray Iguanodon who is the star of Baby's favorite TV show "Ask Mr. Lizard" (a parody of the television show Watch Mr. Wizard). His show helpfully taught generations of children about science that was vaguely related to scientific principles, but mostly existed as a way of ridding the world of young dinosaurs named Timmy. After the often violent death of his assistant, Mr. Lizard would cheerfully call off-camera "We're going to need another Timmy!" | |
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:
| Character | Species | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Longsnout | Dryptosaurus | A generic green Dryptosaurus. This Unisaur was used for:
| |
| Needlenose | Troodon | A tall dinosaur resembling a Troodon with an elongated snout. In addition to being used for Mr. Pulman and Ralph Needlenose, this Unisaur was used for:
| |
| Spikeback | Ceratosaurus | A bulky Ceratosaurus with a striped back, striped tail, and a nose horn. In addition to being used for Gus Spikeback, this Unisaur was used for:
| |
| Turtlepuss | Psittacosaurus | A brown turtle-headed Psittacosaurus that was used as Earl's co-worker Sid Turtlepuss. This Unisaur was also used for:
| |
| Unnamed Female Unisaur Class | Corythosaurus | A female Corythosaurus with a short snout, eyelashes, hair-like crest, and lighter-hued skin that was often used for Mindy. This Unisaur was also used for:
| |
| Unnamed Female Light Green Unisaur | Dryosaurus | A female Dryosaurus with a short snout, eyelashes, hair-like three crest. |
Although 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, titled "Changing Nature", was intended as the series finale and depicts the irresponsible actions of the dinosaurs toward their environment, and the ensuing Ice Age which leads to their demise. In the episode, a swarm of bunch beetles do not show up as expected to devour a form of creeper vine. Charlene discovers that a wax fruit factory called FruitCo has been constructed on Wesayso-controlled swampland that serves as the bunch beetles' breeding grounds, causing the extinction of the species who were killed off by the developers, save for one male named Stan. Charlene and Stan make this information public on the news. After getting a phone call from his superiors at Wesayso who are fearing a public relations nightmare more than any environmental threat, B.P. Richfield quickly puts Earl in charge of an attempt to destroy the vines, which have grown out of control without the beetles to keep them in check. Earl proposes spraying the planet with defoliant which causes the destruction of the vines, but also kills off all plant life on the planet. B.P. Richfield assumes that the creation of clouds will bring rain, allowing the plants to grow back, and so decides to create clouds by dropping bombs in the planet's volcanoes to cause eruptions and cloud cover. The dark clouds instead cause global cooling in the form of a gigantic cloud cover. Howard Handupme states that the scientists estimate that the dark clouds would take "tens of thousands of years" to dissipate. When he gets a call from Earl, B.P. Richfield dismisses this as a "4th quarter problem" and states that Wesayso is currently making record-breaking profits from the cold weather selling blankets, heaters, and hot cocoa mix as the result of the "cold snap". Later, Earl apologizes to his family and Stan for his actions that led to the end of the world. Baby is reassured by Robbie and Charlene that whatever happens, nobody is going to leave and that they will all stay together. Earl tries to assure everyone that it will work out okay, saying that dinosaurs have been on this Earth for 150 million years and it is not like they are going to just disappear. There is a brief shot of FruitCo as it starts to get buried in snow. At DNN, Howard Handupme states that the weather forecast is the same with continued snow, darkness, and extreme cold. He concludes his broadcast by saying "This is Howard Handupme. Good night. Goodbye." The ending credits roll with scenes of snow falling around the Sinclair home, signaling the start of a volcanic/nuclear winter. That officially ended the series on a somber note.
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 telephone 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 2018, 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 1992 and in reruns from 1995 to 2002 on Disney Channel.[15] In Canada, the show started airing reruns in 1992 on The Family Channel and aired them until the late 1990s; the show also aired on CHRO-TV in the early-to-mid 1990s. In Australia, the show started airing on the Seven Network from February 1992 through to 1995. In Ireland, in the mid-1990s, it was shown on a Sunday evening on RTÉ Two (known as network 2 back then). In 1994, it was shown in Italy on Rai 1. The show has also aired on TV3, then moved in 2003 to TV2 in New Zealand, KBC in Kenya and M-Net in South Africa. In Brazil the show started airing on Rede Globo from 1992 to 1999, on SBT from 2003 to 2005, on Band from 2007 to 2011, and on Canal Viva in 2014.[16] In Mexico the show was aired on Canal 5.[17]
The first three volumes were released on VHS on December 6, 1991. On May 2, 2006, 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, 2007, with special features, including the episodes not aired on U.S. television. Both sets are currently available only in Region 1.
On September 29, 2017, 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, 2021, for the United States.[19]
As of September 2022, 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] Common Sense Media rated the series a three out of five stars and said: "Dino puppet-driven sitcom deals with modern issues."[23]
| 1991 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Art Direction for a Series | John C. Mula, Brian Savegar, Kevin Pfeiffer | Episode: "The Mating Dance" | ||
| Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Editing for a Series – Single Camera Production | Marco Zappia | Episode: "The Mighty Megalosaurus" | |||
| Television Critics Association Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming | |||||
| 1992 | Motion Picture Sound Editors | Best Sound Editing – Television Episodic – Effects & Foley | Patrick M. Griffith | |||
| Environmental Media Awards | TV Comedy | Episode: "Power Erupts" | ||||
| 1993 | Environmental Media Awards | TV Comedy | Episode: "If You Were A Tree" | |||
| 1995 | Environmental Media Awards | TV Comedy | Episode: "Changing Nature" |